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The Development of 
State Legislation Concerning the 

Free Negro 

By 

Franklin Johnson, Ph.D. 



NEW YORK 
1919 



C-ipyrifJit lyitj. by Franklin John 



. Idl9 



THE ARBOR PRESS, INC. 

DOUGLAS C. MCMURTRIE 

NEW YORK CITY 



to 



©CI.A559151 
J "3/ 



CONTENTS 

PART [ 

General Development of the Legislation 
Chapter I. The negro problem in legislation I 

Chapter II. General development of restrictive legislation 8 

1. Intermarriage 

2. Education 

3. Transportation 

4. Civil rights 

5. Segregation 

6. Miscellaneous restrictive provisions 

Chapter III. General development of protective legislation 26 

1. Civil rights 

2. Education 

3. Transportation 

4. Miscellaneous protective provisions 

Chapter IV. Social influences affecting the legislation . . 39 

Tables showing chronological enactment of legislation ... 50 

Concerning intermarriage 
Sanctioning separation in education 
Prohibiting separation in education 
Concerning transportation 
Concerning civil rights 

Table of number and per cent, of negro population in each state 56 

part 11 

A Detailed Review of the Laws 
Federal legislation 57 

Legislation in 

Page Page 

Alabama 62 Nebraska 138 

Alaska 67 Nevada 14° 

Arizona 68 New Hampshire 141 



IV 



Contents 



Page 

Arkansas 68 

California 74 

Colorado 75 

Connecticut 77 

Delaware 80 

Florida 84 

Georgia 91 

Idaho 95 

Illinois 96 

Indiana 98 

Iowa 102 

Kansas 104 

Kentucky 106 

Louisiana 1 1 1 

Maine 117 

Maryland 118 

Massachusetts 123 

Michigan 126 

Minnesota 128 

Mississippi 130 

Missouri 136 

Montana 137 



Page 

New Jersey 143 

New Mexico 145 

New York 147 

North Carolina 155 

North Dakota 161 

Ohio 161 

Oklahoma 167 

Oregon 171 

Pennsylvania 172 

Rhode Island 174 

South Carolina 175 

South Dakota 181 

Tennessee 182 

Texas 186 

Utah 192 

Vermont 192 

Virginia 192 

Washington 201 

West Virginia 203 

Wisconsin 206 

Wyoming 207 



PREFACE 

This monograph deals with the laws, enacted by each of the states 
of the United States and by the Federal government prior to 191 7, 
which in terms have related specifically to the negro. All laws of 
this character are included except those relating to slaves and to 
negroes freed prior to the Civil War, and so-called "private" and 
"local" laws, and appropriation acts. No attention is paid to laws 
which in terms do not relate to the negro even though some of the 
statutes of this character, such as the acts restricting the suffrage 
and containing a "grandfather" clause, were undoubtedly passed with 
the purpose of affecting the status of the negro very materially. 
No attempt has been made to review court decisions. Where, 
however, laws have been declared void or unconstitutional, such 
court action has been noted. Various other limitations of the field, 
for the most part of minor importance, are discussed in the opening 
chapter. Within this field the aim has been to present a complete 
record of all enactments, including every amendment no matter how 
unimportant, and every repeal no matter how small. 

The original aim of the author was to review all legislation that 
had ever in any way affected the negro in this country, in the hope 
that the material, thus rendered available, might aid in an intelli- 
gent understanding of the status of that race. The overwhelming 
magnitude of the task soon became evident, however, and the scope 
of the work was limited in the ways already indicated. 

It is evident that complete generalizations concerning the general 
trend of legislation affecting the negro cannot be based on the laws 
dealt with in this volume alone. Only the carrying out of the 
original plan would have made possible a valid general summary 
of the trend of legislation concerning the negro in this country. It 
is the author's hope, however, that a complete review of the field 
indicated will prove more valuable than the possible results of an 
attempt to deal in an incomplete manner with the whole field. 

The thorough treatment undertaken has involved much labor and 
difficult investigation. It would have been impossible except for 
the libraries of the New York Bar Association and the New York 
Law Institute, where the larger part of the investigation was done. 



vi Preface 

Many difficulties arose in the course of the minute and detailed 
work, which are mentioned more fully later. They include on the 
one hand difficulties in discovering legislative enactments, and on 
the other hand difficulties in making sure of the absence of such 
enactments. Thoroughness and accuracy have been sought and it 
is hoped have been substantially achieved. Wherever possible each 
reference has been verified. In a few cases laws have necessarily 
been accepted as referred to in later statute books, or elsewhere 
than the original, the latter being no longer available. Many inaccu- 
racies and errors have been found in the statute records themselves. 

In addition to the source book value of Part II of this volume it 
is the hope of the author that the summaries of certain parts of the 
material, as presented in Part I, will prove useful. These sum- 
maries relate mainly to the most important phases of the legis- 
lation under review, namely, intermarriage, education, transporta- 
tion, civil rights and segregation. 

This opportunity cannot be passed without a tribute of appre- 
ciation to Professor Franklin H. Giddings, who first suggested this 
line of research and interested the writer in it, and whose high 
scholarship and broad outlook and vision inspire all who have come 
into contact with him. 



PART I 
THE GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEGISLATION 

Chapter I. The Negro Problem in Legislation 

Among the most fundamental social problems affecting the organi- 
zation of a society are those which concern its constitution and 
homogeneity. The presence in the social structure of different 
portions of the population, with different interests, different 
functions, and developing along different lines, is a fact of primary 
significance where it exists. The reactions of one such population 
group toward another, or of the larger body toward an included 
group, give rise to phenomena of great importance. 

In the United States the negroes form a population group which 
demands most thoughtful consideration. Their numbers are great 
and increasing. They have been intertwined vitally into the 
development and history of the country. Many difficult problems 
of adjustment have arisen concerning them. Obviously also they 
cannot in a generation or two be absorbed and disappear as a 
separate group. 

The object of this study is to investigate such phenomena as 
appear in a special field of the problem of the negro population group. 
This field in general is the development of legislation concerning the 
negro in the United States and its commonwealths. Specifically, 
however, this essay covers but a portion of this general field, as will 
appear presently when its exact scope is discussed. 

Laws may become obsolete or dead letters. Nevertheless, they 
tend to show the crystallization of public opinion at the time of their 
enactment, and the method of treatment of a subject by the senti- 
ment of the population as a whole. They also indicate a situation 
requiring attention,. and what is regarded as necessary to meet it. 
The significance of laws, therefore, is not found only in their com- 
plete or continued enforcement. It is also found in their indication 
of the viewpoint of the governing group in the population and the 
ideals held by them, which though not always entirely put into 



2 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

practice yet in a measurable degree are effective. Stroud, in his 
Sketch of the Laws says, 1 "In representative republics like the United 
States where the popular voice so greatly influences all political 
concerns, and where the members of the legislative departments are 
dependent for their places upon annual elections, the laws may 
safely be regarded as constituting a faithful exposition of the senti- 
ments of the people." The laws of a state thus show approximately 
the preferred method of treatment of a subject, and in large part 
the actual treatment of the subject. To some extent at least they 
show at the time of passage, as often as reenacted, and so long 
as substantially in force, the effective opinion of the community. 

The reaction of the public to the negro problem both in the North 
and in the South has accordingly been manifested in the legislatures 
of the different states by the adoption of various measures of legis- 
lation according to the supposed needs of the time. Legislative 
provisions parallel the changing situation of the relationship of the 
white and the colored races, and the development and progress of 
legislation concerning the negro throws lights on both the history 
and advancement of that race and on the opinions and viewpoint of 
the members of the dominant white population. Legislation in 
regard to the negro with reference to its historical development, 
therefore, is one of the most important fields of study. 

In spite of the great volume of literature which has been published 
in regard to the negro little has appeared treating of his legal status. 
Prior to the Civil War, many books of considerable merit on this 
aspect of the negro question were published. Among these may be 
mentioned: Goodell, The American Slave Code (1853); Wheeler, A 
Practical Treatise on the Law of Slavery (1837) ; Stroud,/! Sketch of the 
Laws Relating to Slavery in the Several States (1858); and Hurd, The 
Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States (1858 and 1862). 
The book by Wheeler consists of a compilation of the decisions made 
on the subjects in the courts, and is a case book or digest. The other 
books treat of the statute laws regulating the negro race. All of 
these works, together with others not here named, fully cover the 
law concerning the negro in slavery or the slave codes. Legislation 
concerning the free negro is also referred to, and is treated by Hurd 
in a full and thorough fashion. The Law of Freedom and Bondage 
takes up the subject of legislation concerning the free negro as found 

1 Page v. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 3 

in each of the several slave states, and in a number of the free states, 
this work being an adequate and sufficient authority on such legis- 
lation in the slave states up to the time of the Civil War. 

Since the Civil War, while there have been numerous brief articles 
appearing in periodical literature, the field of the legal treatment of 
negroes in the United States apparently remains untouched with 
the exception of one book, namely, ^Stephenson's, Race Distinctions 
in American Law. The object of this book is, in the words of its 
preface: "The inquiry has been: how much does the negro lack of 
being, in truth, a full-Hedged American citizen? What limitations 
upon him are allowed or imposed by law because he is a negro?" 
The book takes up the important lines of legislation, and gives 
for each subject its various forms and provisions, with the states in 
which these are the law. It also includes past legislation regarded 
as important, under each line of legislation, as well as references to 
court decisions selected from those which comment on and interpret 
the laws. 

The present work has a different field and purpose. It presents 
a complete record of all legislative enactments, up to 1918, within 
its scope, which have ever been adopted by any state, and such 
parts of Federal legislation as will presently be mentioned. The 
legislation is recorded under the name of each state, and is pre- 
sented in the chronological order in which it was enacted, the 
year of each enactment being shown. 

The complete record of all acts, chronologically presented, and 
recorded for each state, shows the subjects and topics of legislation 
within our field, which it has been considered necessary to adopt in 
the legislative history of any state. The various times and periods 
within each state when the legislature took such action are thus 
presented. The amount of legislation is shown, and the particular 
lines and kinds, within the field, which have ever been adopted by 
any state, or which have ever been repealed or modified after pre- 
vious adoption. Conversely the absence of legislative action on the 
part of any state is made evident. The progressive development of 
legislation is presented for each state. The tendencies and the trends 
are manifested in each state, as they have appeared from time to 
time. The material is thus made available for the comparative 
study of the legislation of one state with that of another, or of the 
legislation of one period with that of another period. Chronological 



4 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

tables of some of the most important lines of legislation are given 
for convenience of reference. 

The general field of the present investigation, as already indicated, 
is the investigation of the development of legislation concerning the 
negro. The specific field, however, requires delimitation both chro- 
nologically and as to subject matter. Considering the chronological 
limitation a difference immediately appears between the former 
slave states and the free states. In the slave states there was, pre- 
vious to emancipation, a certain amount of legislation concerning 
the free negro. This as already stated has been thoroughly covered 
for each state by Hurd. Any further consideration of it would be 
mere repetition. Moreover, most of it was dissimilar from the lines 
of present legislation and outside its course of development. This 
period is therefore not included herein. IA second period to con- 
sider is that immediately following the Civil War, when in the slave 
states various laws were passed concerning the freed negro often 
minutely regulating his position. These laws were only temporary 
and were both adopted and repealed or omitted from the compiled 
laws within a brief period, in some cases within a year. Some of 
them apparently were never put into force. They constitute a 
single period, without features of inner development important for 
us, and have been referred to in general literature. Many of them 
were of great bulk, many pages of detailed regulations appearing in 
a single act. They were also mostly dissimilar from the lines of 
present legislation, from which they are separated by the Four- 
teenth Amendment to the Constitution and by the effect of the 
Reconstruction administrations in the Southern states. They 
referred to such subjects as minute regulations of farm labor and 
duties of the negro, terms of employment, possession of weapons, 
etc. For these reasons detailed tracing of these laws for each state is 
not included. For each Southern state therefore the record com- 
mences with the first more permanent laws following the Civil War 
and freedom. The laws of the Reconstruction period are included 
because although many were later repealed at various dates, they 
overlap, merge into, and interlink with later legislation in many cases. 
For the free states the legislation was not marked by any sharp 
break such as the Civil War occasioned in the Southern states, but 
Mows in a more nearly continuous stream. It is not possible to 
select any particular starting place for its development. Therefore 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 5 

for these states the record goes back to the earliest legislative enact- 
ments, where necessary antedating statehood, thus including the 
earliest provincial laws and territorial laws, in spite of the difficulty 
of ascertaining them. 

The delimination of the field of the investigation as to subject 
matter is indicated by the fact that the essay includes all general 
legislation mentioning the negro in freedom. Thus all legislation 
relating to slavery is excluded. The term general legislation ex- 
cludes so-called private or local laws and money appropriations by 
the legislature of the state. A few instances of such legislation and 
of other types of legislation not strictly within the scope of this 
monograph are included for special reasons. The investigation 
also excludes court decisions, except where the court holds legisla- 
tion unconstitutional or otherwise void. A few other court decisions 
are included for special reasons, noted in each instance. 

All legislation, whether in constitution or in session laws, is in- 
cluded which mentions the negro or specifically refers to him, 
through the use of such words as negro, color, black, white, race, 
etc., or in any other way, except slave laws, local and private laws, 
appropriation acts, and such Federal legislation as is indicated in 
the following paragraphs. Legislation without explicit reference to 
the negro is not included. There are, of course, certain acts supposed 
to have been passed with reference to the negro, though containing 
no mention of him. But to determine whether a given act not men- 
tioning the negro was enacted with special reference to him or not 
is not always easy and is often a matter of opinion. Among such 
laws are various vagrancy laws, peonage laws, and the election laws 
of different Southern states. The least disputed example probably 
were the so-called "grandfather" clauses of certain Southern election 
laws, yet even these have been declared otherwise. The limit has 
perforce been drawn according to the terms of the law and not ac- 
cording to the underlying motives of the legislators. There is also 
naturally not included each instance of the mere repetition of 
previously enacted legislation, without alteration, in the course of 
issuing successive editions of Compiled Statutes, or otherwise 
repeating general sections of statutes. All alterations, repeals, or 
even omissions of a law are carefully noted. 

Federal legislation differs completely from state legislation, in that 
it has been thoroughly and carefully indexed, from an early date, 



6 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

the index including past enactments. A long list of all Federal 
enactments on the subject, major and minor, would be needless 
duplication, lists of enactments being already accessible in the 
Federal indexes. Some Federal legislation is included as an aid to 
understanding the development of state legislation. 

Research into existing laws is a less onerous task than an attempt 
to discover and to record all legislation enacted at any time within 
a given field. The difficulties in research into the past records of 
legislation are great. While court decisions are well indexed and 
contained in numerous digests, there is in most states a total lack of 
both indexes and digests for past statute law. The current law of a 
state is contained in the compiled laws or revised statutes of the 
state, but it is frequently a matter of great difficulty to trace any 
one of these laws in its development and to its origin. Still harder 
is it to discover laws which have been long repealed and have there- 
fore disappeared. 

In many cases inaccurate indexes were found in the volumes of 
statutes. Even in volumes of session laws, there are sometimes en- 
actments which have been totally omitted from the index of the 
volume, and can therefore be discovered only by an actual turning 
over of all the pages contained in the statute book. This was found 
to be the case in a number of instances. In many instances a law 
although indexed is referred to in such a way that no reference 
whatever to the negro race appears. For example, some of the recent 
hospital legislation concerning the colored race can be discovered 
only under the word hospital, the index containing no word whatever 
indicating its special application to the negro. The indexing of laws 
is also done under a large number of varying heads, all of which 
must be examined in every state to cover possible statutes. For 
example, a separate coach law may be found indexed only under 
the head of Railroads, in other cases only under Jim Crow, in other 
cases only under Common Carriers, or again, only under one of 
the many terms used to indicate the negro, such as Negro, Colored, 
Black, Race, Mulatto. Search must be made under all of these 
heads to ascertain the law. If the intent of the index makers had 
been to conceal the laws contained in the statute books and in the 
session laws, they could at times have adopted no better plan to 
accomplish this purpose. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negra 7 

There is also carelessness in the printing of statutes. In a number 
of cases laws are referred to in later legislation or in court decisions 
which diligent search failed to reveal in the statute books of the date 
referred to, or at any other time. 

On account of the lark of proper indexing, and in addition the 
failure of most states to maintain any record of legislation which 
was later repealed, or as often happened simply omitted, it is even 
harder to make sure that there was no legislation in a given period 
than to discover such legislation when it exists. The variation in 
usage among the different states is great as to their methods of 
recording or referring to statutes which do not appear in the latest 
compilation of current laws. An investigation based on court 
decisions is far easier, for the reasons given, than one into past 
statutory law. 

Legislation mentioning the negro falls naturally into two broad 
divisions. The first includes enactments in restriction of the negro, 
or expressing a sentiment opposed to his full and unrestrained inter- 
mingling with the activities of the white population. The second 
includes enactments in protection of the negro, or expressing a 
sentiment favoring him and his participation in activities. All 
legislation of both classes is of course here recorded. This division 
is a natural one for the consideration of the field. The follow- 
ing chapters accordingly consider first restrictive enactments, then 
protective enactments. Following this, consideration is given to 
social influences underlying the legislation. 



CHAPTER II. 

General Development of Restrictive Legislation 

For the proper understanding of the course of legislation in the 
individual states, some knowledge is necessary of the general devel- 
opment of each of the several lines of legislation, as found in the 
states considered together. Such a view of the legislation is likewise 
important in itself. This chapter will treat therefore of the out- 
standing features of the development of legislation in restriction of 
the negro. Within the scope outlined in the previous chapter it 
will consider restrictive legislation concerning intermarriage or 
miscegenation, education, transportation, civil rights, segregation, 
and miscellaneous provisions. Protective legislation will be con- 
sidered in the following chapter. 

INTERMARRIAGE 

Legislation concerning intermarriage or miscegenation is simple 
in form. In the nature of the case it was not subject to a process of 
development and growth as to its provisions. It always consisted 
of the prohibition of intermarriage between any negro and any white 
person. Two minor modifications are noted later which slightly 
vary the last term. A penalty for violation of the law was 
usually imposed. In most states the intermarriage was declared 
void. 

The law against intermarriage made its appearance at an earlier 
date than any other article of legislation considered, either restrictive 
or protective. 

Most of the states, both Northern and Southern, which enacted 
such legislation did so prior to the Civil War. Closely following the 
end of that period, however, four states adopted such an act. After 
that time no further state, which had not previously done so, 
adopted an intermarriage prohibition, except Louisiana and except 
territories which entered late into statehood, namely, Utah, Okla- 
homa, Montana and South Dakota. Therefore, by far the larger 
part of all legislation prohibiting intermarriage was first enacted 
either prior to or just following the Civil War. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 9 

The law has been repeated or reenacted with trifling modifications 
by various states, no special feature marking its course. At no 
time was there found after 1850 a period of longer than three years 
without the appearance- in some state of such an enactment or 
reenactment, until 1895. 

The law against intermarriage was repealed or omitted by eleven 
states which at one time had enacted the statute, and in one other 
state was rendered inoperative through a court decision. The 
states which repealed or omitted the law, with the date of such 
action, are Massachusetts, repealed 1840; Iowa, omitted 1851; 
Maine, omitted 1857, repealed 1883; Kansas, repealed 1859; New 
Mexico, repealed 1866; Washington, repealed 1867; South Carolina, 
repealed 1868; Mississippi, omitted 1871; Rhode Island, repealed 
1881; Michigan, repealed 1883; Ohio, repealed 1887. The two 
Southern states of Mississippi and South Carolina later reenacted 
the law, Mississippi in 1880 by insertion in its Revised Statutes of 
that date, and South Carolina by reenactment in 1879. In addition 
to these ten states, the intermarriage law of Alabama was held void 
by a decision of the state court in 1872, and five years later was again 
declared valid by a further court decision. 

Only three instances of the repeal or omission of the law came 
before 1865, all the other cases, including its repeal in the state of 
Maine, dating after the close of the Civil War. None of the in- 
stances of permanent repeal or abandonment were in the Southern 
states. 1 New Mexico is not here classed as a Southern state, and 
the permanent repeal of the law there was in line with the general 
legislation of that state, which in its development has opposed dis- 
crimination or restriction on account of its large population with 
Mexican and Spanish blood. 

A few states in their earlier statutes formerly imposed a penalty 
upon the^ white person but not upon the negro, West Virginia being 
the only such state at the present time. On the contrary a few 
imposed a severer penalty upon the negro than upon the white 
person. A few of the very early statutes also contained extremely 
severe penalties, such as life slavery, for a free negro violating the 
law. These early severe penalties have also disappeared. An 
early provision was also the imposing of a penalty upon the 

1 The term Southern states in this essay has a special meaning, namely, the former 
slave-holding states. 



io State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

person performing the ceremony but not upon the parties to 
the intermarriage. Massachusetts exemplifies this. The theory- 
was, apparently, that the person qualified to perform a marriage 
ceremony was a person of especial responsibility and intelligence, 
and since the violation of the law was impossible without his act, 
the penalty was inflicted solely upon him. 

One great object of laws against intermarriage is undoubtedly to 
prevent race mixture, or as the early act of Massachusetts phrased 
it, "to prevent spurious and mixed issue." It is a noticeable feature 
of this legislation that only a few states have ever enacted any laws 
against illicit intercourse between white and colored persons. Pro- 
visions to this effect have been inserted in the law against inter- 
marriage of three states only, Alabama, Florida, and Nevada, while 
one state only, namely, Louisiana, has provided for it in a sep- 
arate act. 

The two minor modifications in the general provision referring to 
white persons are as follows: North Carolina in 1871 prohibited 
also intermarriage of a negro with an Indian, later in 1887 limiting 
this only to the Croatan Indians, or Indians of Roberson County. 
Massachusetts in its law referred to in the preceding paragraph 
forbade negro intermarriage with a person of any Christian nation. 

EDUCATION 

Restrictive legislation concerning education is directed toward 
securing separation in education between the negro and the white 
races. The general form of a separate education law is an act 
requiring separation in schools and institutions of learning con- 
ducted by the state. A second form of the law has been enacted 
in four Northern states, by which such separation is permitted, but 
not required, the states being Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, and Wy- 
oming. One other Northern state, namely, New York, while specifi- 
cally forbidding exclusion from any school on account of color, 
provides a method of establishing voluntary separate schools. 
Recent modifications of the above-named general form of the sep- 
aration law are mentioned later. Legislation prohibiting separation 
in education will be referred to in another chapter. 

Most of the laws thus restricting negro education which were 
adopted by the Northern states were first enacted either before or 
very shortly after the close of the Civil War. California first enacted 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro n 

its law in 1869. No other state outside of the group of Southern 
states enacted for the first time such a law after this, except three 
states which entered into statehood at a late date, namely, Arizona, 
Oklahoma, and Wyoming. Restrictive legislation concerning edu- 
cation, outside the Southern states, therefore in general ceased to 
develop four years after the Civil War, and but for California would 
have ceased in 1865, subject to the exceptions just named. 

Most of the Southern states, contrary to the course of the North- 
ern states, enacted such a law as a definite part of their statutes at 
varying periods after the Civil War. The reason for this is plain. 
Previous to that time not only was the public school system in a 
rudimentary form, but the colored people were slaves. Separation 
was a matter which in general required no legislation to enforce 
during the time of slavery. What little legislation was enacted 
was in total restriction of education for the negro, rather than for 
separation in education. When slavery ceased, it then became 
necessary to enact definite requirements of separation to secure it. 

No Southern state which ever enacted a separate education law 
has ever abandoned it, with the temporary exceptions of South 
Carolina and Louisiana. This is referred to more fully in the 
following chapter. 

In most of the Northern states which restricted education the 
development of legislation has been away from separation. Sep- 
arate education laws have been either omitted, or have been replaced 
by a definite prohibition of separation. The separation requirement 
has been omitted by Nevada, Ohio, and California as to negroes. 
Separation has been replaced by definite prohibition in Minnesota, 
Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania. 

The former separate education laws of various states contained 
requirements which deserve attention. In some states the funds 
for the support of the negro schools were not drawn from the public 
school funds in general, but were derived from the taxation of the 
property of colored persons or from special taxes upon colored 
people such as poll taxes or special educational taxes. Under these 
conditions the colored race was charged with the support of its own 
schools, either wholly or in large part. This provision has disap- 
peared from the law today except in Kentucky where it appears 
still to be sanctioned. Another feature which formerly appeared 
in certain states was a provision vesting the control of the negro 



12 State Legislation Concerning (he Free Negro 

schools in negro trustees or school boards, instead of placing 
the separate negro schools under the control of the general school 
board in each district. This appeared to be a measure of self- 
government for the negro. It probably operated injuriously to 
entrust the administration of the schools to people themselves 
limited in education by necessity, who had few means of acquiring 
information concerning educational methods. A third feature con- 
cerns the minimum number of pupils required in a few states for the 
maintenance of separate schools, it being provided that when there 
are fewer children in a district than the required number the school 
board is not required to maintain separate schools. The tendency 
has been to reduce the number so required, as seen for example in 
West Virginia. The states having such requirements at present are 
Arizona, requiring eight; Maryland, "if the number shall warrant;" 
Missouri, fifteen; West Virginia, ten; and Wyoming, fifteen. 

A noteworthy development of separate education legislation has 
appeared in certain Southern states, in the late enactment of a 
requirement compelling separation in all schools and institutions of 
learning, no matter by whom conducted. The previous laws and 
the laws of other states require separation in education supported 
by public funds and administered by the state, that is, in public 
schools. The new requirement has added private schools. This 
provision appeared first in Florida in a law of 1895, which was 
specially designed to include all schools both public and private. 
Florida had many years before passed a law requiring separation in 
education, and also had enacted a constitutional requirement to the 
same effect. In the law of 1895 it extended the previous enactments 
so that not only public schools and institutions of learning supported 
by state funds were required to maintain separation of races, but 
also all educational institutions in the state were under the same 
requirement. The Florida law forbade conducting either a public or 
private school where white persons and negroes are instructed in 
the same building, or in the same class, or at the same time by one 
teacher. The law imposed a penalty both upon the teacher, and 
also upon anyone patronizing the school, which included its sup- 
porters and its officers. 

A law similar in its general provisions to the statute of Florida 
appeared six years later, in 1901, in Tennessee. It forbade any 
institution of learning from receiving white and colored pupils 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 13 

together. It also rendered it unlawful for any teacher to instruct 
them together or to allow it. The penalty was imposed both on any 
teacher violating the law, and on the institution itself. The laws 
of Florida and Tennessee resemble each other, and the second was 
evidently copied in its general terms from the first. They form a 
class by themselves, distinct from the two later statutes covering 
the same field, mentioned in the next paragraphs. 

A separate education law covering all institutions of learning both 
public and private was enacted in Kentucky in 1904, three years 
after the Tennessee act. This was drawn in entirely different 
terms, and manifested a different spirit from the previous laws just 
examined. It rendered it unlawful to operate any institute of 
learning where persons of the two races were received as pupils. 
It imposed the extremely heavy fine of one thousand dollars together 
with an added fine of one hundred dollars for each day the institu- 
tion was operated after conviction. It also imposed the same severe 
fine upon each individual instructor teaching in any such institution, 
and this regardless of whether the special instructor had personally 
taught both races jointly. If the school had one class in which both 
races were taught together, and the school maintained a staff of 
twenty instructors, then each instructor would be liable to the fine 
of one thousand dollars. The act further made attendance at such 
a school unlawful for each white person and also each negro attend- 
ing as student, and imposed the heavy fine of fifty dollars for each 
day any student whatever attended such an institution. The act 
allowed a separate branch located at least twenty-five miles away 
for the education of a different race. 2 It will be seen how different 
this act is from the Tennessee statute. The Kentucky law not only 
imposed a heavy penalty upon the institution itself and upon any 
teacher offending, but it also penalized the entire teaching staff of 
the institution, and the entire student body. The Kentucky statute 
in question could hardly be more severe unless it made violation a 
prison offense. The law was directed at the only institution in 
Kentucky at that time which received both white and negro stu- 
dents, namely, Berea College. This institution was established long 
before the Civil War for the purpose of the education of the popula- 
tion of the mountain whites in Eastern Kentucky and in the adjoin- 

2 This last provision was held void because unreasonable, by the Kentucky court 
in 1906. 



14 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

ing staiis. Subsequent to the Civil War, negro students were also 
received, and out of a total number of approximately one thousand 
students at the time <>f the enactment of the statute, about one-fifth 
were colored. 

Similar to the Kentucky statute and forming a class with it was 
the law of Oklahoma of 1908, which apparently copied the Ken- 
tucky act, although much more mild in its penalties. The Okla- 
homa law made it illegal to operate any institution of learning 
receiving both white and colored students. An offending institution 
was fined from one hundred to five hundred dollars, and each day 
it was open was a separate offense. Each teacher of such a school 
could be fined from ten to fifty dollars a day, and each pupil from 
five to twenty dollars a day. It will be seen how closely this act 
was apparently patterned after that of Kentucky, avoiding however 
the extreme penalties imposed by the latter. It also avoided the 
provision requiring a separate branch not less than twenty-five 
miles away for the education of a different race, which had been held 
void by the Kentucky courts two years before. 

These four states are the only ones refusing to allow the same 
institution to furnish instruction, even though separately conducted, 
to both the white and colored races, even when such institutions are 
entirely private in their support, and receive no part of the public 
state educational funds. The two earlier statutes were mild in tone 
and carried moderate penalties. The two later statutes were 
stringent and carried severe penalties. 

The most recent development of the separate education legis- 
lation of the Southern states is a requirement limiting the instruction 
ot negro children to teachers of the negro race. The majority of 
the teachers of the negro children are at present of the negro race, 
and this law prevents instruction except by such, withdrawing the 
benefit of white instruction. Such a law was enacted by Florida in 
1913, being of course reciprocal in its terms. 

TRANSPORTATION 

Separation in transportation is the most conspicuous form of 

fiction. The public in general does not often enter schools, and 

intermarriage between the races is not only rare but not necessarily 

noticeable when it exists. Separation in public transportation be- 

< omes evidenl at once to any person who travels in the states having 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 15 

such requirements. On this account, it is often the first law which 
the public thinks of when considering restrictive legislation con- 
cerning the negro. 

Laws requiring separation in transportation came only after the 
close of the Civil War. Before the Civil War, while slavery was 
still in force, such separation was universally compelled, the author- 
ity of the white race over the negroes being sufficient for this pur- 
pose. Subsequent to the Civil War, the authority of the white race 
though no longer legally binding was felt as a moral force by the 
colored race and apparently was sufficient to secure the continuance 
of such separation in most of the Southern states for a long period 
after the close of the War, although three such states adopted legis- 
lation in somewhat elementary form immediately after the Civil 
War. A further reason doubtless was the fact that railroad travel 
was not so prevalent at an earlier period as at present, while the 
colored population lacked both means and motive for extended and 
frequent use of railroads. During the Reconstruction period all 
three states referred to repealed their laws. W T ith the exception of 
a single state, Tennessee, in 1 881, no state enacted a separate coach 
law or other provision as to separation in transportation until more 
than twenty years after the Civil War. In 1887, and during the 
five years following, a number of Southern states adopted this 
provision, the others following in the years immediately after 1898. 

The state which first enacted a definite law requiring separation 
in public vehicles following the Civil War was Florida, in 1865. The 
law provided that no negro should intrude himself into any public 
vehicle set apart for white people. It carried a penalty of standing 
in the pillory or of being whipped, or both. The law applied equally 
to any white person intruding into any vehicle for the colored race, 
under the same penalties. No white person would probably as a 
matter of fact so intrude, but nevertheless the penalty, especially 
that of whipping, which was used for the colored race, is noteworthy 
in its application to the white race, though only in form. In the 
same year Mississippi enacted a law forbidding the employee of any 
railroad to permit any negro to ride in cars used for white persons, 
under penalty of fine and imprisonment. This statute was entirely 
in restriction of the colored race, and contained no reciprocal clause 
applying likewise to the white race. Following the example of these 
two states, Texas enacted a brief provision to the effect that every 



16 State Legislation Concerning Die Free Negro 

railroad company was required to attach to each passenger train 
one car for freed men. This law did not require compulsory sep- 
aration between the white and negro travellers. It was apparently 
assumed that the colored freed men would in fact travel in their 
own car. These three early laws were elementary, and did not reach 
the well developed form of the later separate coach legislation. 

I luring the Reconstruction period these three laws were repealed. 
Si vera! Southern states then adopted statutes prohibiting separation 
in transportation. These will be referred to more fully in the fol- 
lowing chapter. They were with one exception afterward repealed. 

The next appearance of separation legislation was a provision 
permitting but not requiring such separation. Such an act was 
adopted in 1875 by Tennessee and by Delaware, the latter including 
boats. 

The first state to adopt a permanent law requiring separation in 
railroad trains was Tennessee, which in 1881 adopted a law in many 
respects similar to the later separate coach laws. It was so worded 
in the preamble, however, as to indicate that it was intended for the 
protection of the colored race. The preamble recited that railroad 
companies had been in the practice of charging the colored passen- 

; - first cla>s fare and compelling them to occupy second class cars 
where smoking was allowed and where there was vulgar or obscene 
language. The act then required that railroad companies should 
furnish separate cars or separate apartments, for all colored pas- 
sengers paying the first class rate of fare. These apartments were 
to be equal in all respects to the first class cars, and were to be sub- 
ject to their rules in regard to smoking and obscene language. It 
will be noticed that the penalty consisted of a fine of three hundred 
dollars to go to the common school fund, which could be recovered 
by suit of the superintendent of public instruction of the county 
concerned. 

The example of Tennessee was followed six years later by Florida, 
which was the original state to enact a separate coach law, the 
renni »see acl apparently being in the minds of the legislators. 
I he law was drawn in terms which provided for the protection of 
the negro race. It required railroad companies to sell first class 
tickets to negroes at the same rate as to white persons and to give 
them equal accommodations. No white person was allowed to ride 
in a car lor negroes or to insult or annoy any negro in the car. No 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 17 

negro was allowed in any car for whites. This law was not yet in the 
fully developed form which appeared at a somewhat later period, 
and it had not eliminated the statement of a desire to protect the 
colored race as well as to enforce its separation. The following year 
the state of Mississippi again followed the example of Florida, and 
enacted a separate coach law. This law did not follow the act of 
Florida in reciting provisions for the protection of the colored race 
and is much more closely in the form of later legislation, though 
not so fully developed. It is notable because it is the first law 
having any provision as to separation of the races in railway stations. 
This was not required, but the railroad commission was authorized 
to provide separate rooms, in their discretion. A year later, in 1889, 
Texas, which was the third state to pass a separate coach law in the 
previous period, again occupied the same position in this group, and 
enacted a statute which was passed by the legislature under sus- 
pended rule on account of the need of haste. 

In the period from 1887 to 1894, in addition to the states already 
named, separate coach laws were also enacted by Louisiana, Ala- 
bama, Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky. These laws require no 
special comment except that Louisiana and Arkansas both required 
separation in railway stations, and Georgia included in its law 
electric and street cars, in which separation of passengers in the 
seats was required as far as practicable. This was the first appear- 
ance of the later laws requiring separation on electric and street 
railways. 

After 1894 there was a period of four years during which no 
legislation was enacted. In 1898 the subject again received atten- 
tion, and the remaining Southern states, with the exception of 
Delaware and Missouri, adopted laws similar to those of the earlier 
states, except that in most cases they were in fuller and more devel- 
oped form. Many of the states also strengthened their previous 
legislation. This period was also marked by the extension of the 
requirement of separation on electric and street railways. 

While the provisions of the laws requiring separation of the races 
by railroads differ somewhat in detail, yet in their general terms 
they are alike. They require separation by means of either entirely 
separate cars for each race, or by means of a partition dividing a 
car into compartments, one for each race. In almost every case 
the railroad is allowed to use either one of these methods. It will 



18 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

be noted that the state of South Carolina, however, requires sep- 
arate care only, in its law of 1900, and Maryland requires separate 
care only in certain counties, by law of 1908. The partition is 
required to be substantial, the law often stating that it must 
be made of wood. Most of the states also have the requirement 
that the separate compartment must be labelled or marked with 
.1 sign indicating for which nice it is intended. The laws all provide 
that tlu- accommodations for each race must be equal, and that 
there must be no discrimination therein between races. 

Sireet railway transportation developed generally later than rail- 
road-, and the legislation referring to it would be expected at a later 
period than railroad legislation. The first statute containing this 
requirement, however, was that of Georgia in 1891, which remained 
isolated until 1901 and 1902, when statutes of limited application 
appeared in Virginia. By a limited law is meant one not applying 
to all the street railways of the state, the laws of Tennessee and South 
Carolina being also of this class. The next statute requiring general 
separation upon street railways was adopted by Louisiana in 1902, 
and provided that all street railways must furnish separate but 
equal accommodations. This was followed in rapid succession, in 
the order named, by Arkansas, a limited law in Tennessee, Missis- 
sippi, Florida, South Carolina, a general law in Tennessee, a general 
law in Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Maryland. 

The provisions of these statutes usually require that the street 
railway shall maintain either two cars or else one car divided by a 
partition, which is not generally required to be of wood but which 
may consist ol a wire screen, while in some cases a mere sign placed 
at the dividing point ^ sufficient. In a few cases simple separation 
in the -eats of the car is required. 

Sleeping and chair cars have been included in the separation 
requirement of some states. Texas and Oklahoma have required 
complete separation in all such cars, and Georgia has added the 
further provision that nothing in the act shall compel sleeping car 
companies to carry persons of color in their cars. The last statute 
to tin- effect was thai of Texas in 1914, which provided that the 
porter of no sleeping car -hall be allowed to sleep in any empty 
berth which is intended tor the use of white persons, and also 
forbids him i<> use the same bedding as is kept for the use of white 
persons. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 19 

In addition to separation in railroad coaches and cars of electric 
and street railways, there are also certain other forms of separation 
connected with transportation. Six states have required separation 
in railroad stations, either in the waiting rooms, or in the waiting 
rooms and other facilities of the station. The first state which 
enacted such a requirement, as already seen, was Mississippi, which 
in 1888 authorized such separation. The separation was afterward 
made compulsory. The next state to enact similar legislation was 
Arkansas in 1893. Following this came Virginia, in a law which 
allowed the establishment of separate waiting rooms in all stations, 
and compelled separate waiting rooms at wharves with certain 
exceptions, and next Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. South Carolina 
has not required separation in the waiting rooms of railroad stations 
by its law, but in 1906 enacted a statute requiring separation in 
restaurants and eating houses of railroad stations. Separation is in 
fact provided, although without legislative requirement, in the dif- 
ferent Southern states. 

Separation upon boats and steamboats has also been required by 
four states, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Caro- 
lina. These states all have more or less water traffic, for which 
reason such a law was natural as a supplement to the separate coach 
laws of these states. The South Carolina law provided that "all 
steam ferries" should have separate accommodations. This ap- 
parently covered the boats carrying passengers within state waters, 
and was in effect the same as the laws of the other states named. 
In addition to these states, Delaware in 1875 allowed separation on 
boats, though not requiring it. These states are all contiguous and 
occupy what may be called the northern portion of the southern 
section of the Atlantic seaboard. Other Southern states, although 
having considerable water transportation, which have not enacted 
any such provision, are Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

Legislation restricting or tending to restrict the negro in regard 
to certain of his civil rights has been enacted in four Southern states. 
Such a provision may be termed an Anti-Civil-Rights law. All of 
this legislation was enacted between 1866 and 1876, inclusive. 

The first statute of this nature appeared in the Florida act of 
1866 which in addition to prohibiting colored people from intruding 



20 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

into a railroad car for whites also prohibited them from intruding 
themselves into any public assembly of white persons. This provi- 
ii while in the nature of an Anti-Civil-Rights law is very brief com- 
pared to other and later enactments. Delaware passed a resolution 
in 1873 declaring opposition to the proposed Act of Congress known 
.1- the Supplemental Civil Rights Bill and all other measures in- 
tended to equalize the negro race with fhe white race. It also pro- 
claimed unerasing opposition to the admission of negroes on terms 
of equality with white people to public conveyances, places of 
amusement and other places. Two years later Delaware passed 
another statute to the effect that no keeper of any place of public 
entertainment or refreshment, no proprietor of any public place or 
amusement, and no common carrier, were required to admit any 
person whose presence would be offensive to the major part of the 
patrons of the place. It has never been repealed and still appears 
upon the statute books of Delaware although in effect probably a 
(hid letter. In the same year Tennessee passed an Anti-Civil-Rights 
law still more comprehensive in terms. It abrogated the rule of 
common law giving a right of action to any person excluded from 
any hotel, public means of transportation, or place of amusement. 
It provided that no keeper of any hotel, common carrier, or keeper of 
a pi, tee of amusement, should be under any obligation to admit any 
person whom he should for any reason whatever choose not to admit, 
and that the keepers of such places, including common carriers, 
should have the same right to control admission as that of any person 
over his private house. This statute was intended to avoid the 
effect of the Federal Civil Rights law of 1875. It attempted to do 
this not by creating any distinction between the white and colored 
race, but by making places formerly public into private places as 
far as the control of their managers is concerned. This applied to 
.ill people alike, and separation was secured by the action of the 
manager of each place. While this law has never been formally 
repealed, it has been in part superseded by the separate coach legis- 
lation of the state, and in part has become a dead letter. 

One more law in the nature of an Anti-Civil-Rights statute re- 
quires mention. It is a resolution of the legislature of North Caro- 
lina, passed in [876. It made no change in the operation of the law 
"• ,lu ' state. It simply declared the repugnance of the General 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 21 

Assembly of the state to the "Absurd attempts, by means of Civil 
Rights Bills, to eradicate certain race distinctions." 

SEGREGATION 

By the term segregation is meant the restriction or limiting of 
certain portions or districts of a city or community in their use by 
both races jointly. In one sense all separation is segregation, but 
the term has come to be employed generally with the significance 
given above, and it is therefore so used here. The statutes apply 
equally to negroes and white persons, for otherwise they would be 
invalid. There have been various local ordinances concerning 
segregation, in different communities. 

The first appearance of such legislation enacted by any state was 
the Separate Park Law of Georgia, adopted in 1905. This was per- 
missive only, and not compulsory. It provided that any park 
which was granted to a Municipal Corporation by the owner of the 
land might in the conveyance be limited to the use of one race only, 
thus excluding members of the other race. It also provided that a 
Municipal Corporation might accept the land as a park for the 
exclusive use of the class named. It need not be said that the holders 
of city real estate suitable for parks were in most cases white persons, 
and that the act was likely to be applied with reference to the inclu- 
sion of the white population and the exclusion of the colored. 

The principle of segregation appeared in more developed form in 
Louisiana in 1912, in an act which authorized Municipal Corpora- 
tions to withold building permits for erecting houses for negroes in a 
white community, or any portion of a community inhabited prin- 
cipally by white people. The same provision was also made through- 
out as to colored communities. Such a house could only be built 
with the written consent of the majority of those of the opposite 
race in the portion to be affected. A "white community" or a "negro 
community" was defined to mean any subdivision or portion of a 
town, or any street, inhabited principally by members of the one 
race. In case of violation of the law, not only was a heavy fine im- 
posed, but the municipality was given the right to remove and to 
destroy the building. 

In the same year Virginia enacted a law of the same general kind 
but still more expanded, to prevent not only erection of buildings 
for negroes in the white district, and the reverse, but also to prohibit 



22 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

the residence of any negro in a white district, and the reverse. The 
law recited that public morals and order would be endangered by 
the residence of white and colored people in close proximity to each 
other, and directed that in any town adopting the act, the entire 
area should be divided into districts known as "Segregation Dis- 
tricts." It required the preparation of a map showing all such dis- 
tricts, and showing the number of white and colored persons in each 
segregation district. Every district containing more residents of 
the white race was to be designated as a white district, and a district 
containing as many, or more, residents of the colored race was to be 
designated as a colored district. It was rendered unlawful for any 
negro not already residing in a white district to move into it, either 
to occupy a house or as a lodger or boarder, the only exception 
being in the case of servants or members of families living in the 
district. The same provision was made as to negro districts. 

MISCELLANEOUS RESTRICTIVE PROVISIONS 

In addition to the subjects which have already been considered , 
concerning which restrictive legislation has been enacted, there are 
also other forms of restrictive enactments affecting the negro. Many 
of these provisions have disappeared from the law. Others were 
adopted by a single state or a limited number of states, or were 
otherwise of minor importance. This section will take up in the 
following order restrictions upon the negro concerning testimony, 
practising law, jury service, suffrage, state troops, homesteads, 
custody "I' white children, exciting race prejudice, saloons, care of 
sick, state institutions. Various other minor provisions have been 
included in the terms of several enactments, which are not of suffi- 
cient importance to justify detailed mention in this summary. 

The testimony of negroes, in legal proceedings, was formerly 
restricted in a number of states. Prior to the Civil War several of 
the Northern states adopted provisions in their statutes which for- 
bade the testimony of a negro in any action concerning a white 
person. The laws varied in the different states, but in substance 
they were similar, and require no detailed analysis. The states 
were Indiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, and Oregon. At or imme- 
diately following the close of the Civil War, a few Northern states 
and a number of Southern states adopted acts restricting the testi- 
mony of negroes in general to cases in which white men were not 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 23 

concerned, or else in which white persons were not parties. These 
states were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ken- 
tucky, Maryland, Nevada, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Wash- 
ington, and Virginia. 

None of these statutes were enacted after 1866, doubtless on 
account of the Federal Civil Rights Act of that year, which specifi- 
cally included the right to give evidence. All such statutes have 
been repealed either by definite enactment or by omission, and in 
no state is there any restriction upon negro testimony, all restrictive 
provisions referring now merely to general credibility, intelligence, 
and similar subjects. 

The right of the negro to practice law as an attorney and member 
of the bar was prohibited by statutory enactment in two states. In 
Iowa only white males were permitted to practice until 1870. In 
Maryland admission to the bar was limited to the white race until 
1904, when the restriction was omitted. In 1914 the state adopted a 
provision opening admission to the bar to all qualified persons. No 
restriction upon this right appears in any state at the present time. 

The right of a negro to serve as a juror was restricted after the 
Civil War by Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The other 
Southern states refused in fact to receive negroes upon juries gen- 
erally. The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1875 contained a special 
clause, which is still in force, prohibiting disqualifying persons from 
jury service on account of color. All laws to the contrary in these 
states therefore became void. 

The right of the negro to the ballot was withheld before the year 
1870 by the Southern states and many of the Northern states. The 
only Northern states allowing the ballot to the negro before 1865 
were the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island; and New York and Wisconsin. 
The latter state extended suffrage to the negro in an act of 1849 
which provided for a popular election on the question. The ma- 
jority of the votes was in favor of negro suffrage, but through a 
misconception of the law it was declared defeated. In 1866 the 
courts of the state held that the right had actually been conferred 
in 1849, and it must therefore be recognized as of that date, although 
not actually enjoyed by the colored population until the later date. 
New York state allowed negro suffrage but provided higher quali- 
fications for negroes than for white citizens. With these exceptions 



24 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

no state appears to have extended the right of suffrage to the negr- 
until the close of the Civil War. 

Between 1865 and 1870, the date of the Fifteenth Amendment, 
four more states and territories, all neighboring to Wisconsin, 
granted to the colored race the right to vote. They were Iowa 
Minni'Mii.i, and North Dakota and South Dakota, then not sep- 
arated. The Reconstruction constitutions of the Secession states 
provided the same. 

The whole question of the restriction of suffrage for the colorec 
race was definitely settled by the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 
Thi> provided that the right of any citizen of the United States t( 
vote should not be denied or abridged by any state on account o 
color. The Fourteenth Amendment had already provided for tin 
citizenship of the negro. Subsequent to the Fifteenth Amendment, 
therefore, no law was valid which limited the right of the negro tc 
vote, and automatically all the existing laws were made void, 
whether statutes or constitutional provisions. Since 1870 there 
have been no restrictions of suffrage by any laws mentioning the 
negro, or applying in terms to him. Various states have certain 
provisions in their election laws which apply alike to both races, 
but which in operation may, in fact, bear more heavily upon the 
negro, Mich as the so-called "grandfather clauses," previously 
referred to, but consideration of these is without our scope. 

The service of negroes in state troops or militia has been restricted 
in four Southern states. Such service was prohibited or abolished by 
South Carolina in 1865, Arkansas in 1867 (in a statute of somewhat 
doubtful application), and Georgia in 1905. North Carolina in 
[868 merely provided for separation of negro and white members 
of the militia. 

Restrictions as to homesteads, custody of white children, and 
ex< iting race prejudice, are as follows. Kentucky in its Homestead 
A< 1 ol [865, specially provided that the benefits of the act should 
not apply to the colored race. The act has since been repealed. 
A law providing that no white child should be permanently placed 
in the custody of any member of the colored race was enacted in 
South Carolina in [910. The act did not apply to the care of a 
white child by servants or members of the household, but to the 
permanenl care of a white child by such persons, or by any other 
members of the negro race. The law is still in force. Exciting race 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 25 

prejudice or antagonism is the general field of the acts of two states. 
Virginia in 1877 prohibited conspiracy to incite the colored popula- 
tion to insurrection, or similarly the white population, the act still 
being retained upon the current statute book. Kentucky in 1906 
rendered it unlawful to participate in any play based upon antago- 
nism alleged formerly to exist between master and slave, or which 
would excite race prejudice. 

Separation in saloons was required in Louisiana in 1908, in an 

act making it unlawful for any place serving intoxicating beverages 

to permit their sale for consumption on the premises to whites and 

j negroes within the same building. It will be noticed that this refers 

not to the same bar-room but to the same building. 

A new tendency has appeared regarding separation in the care of 
the sick, in two of the Southern states. North Carolina in 1915 
adopted an act requiring that every institution for the care of the 
sick in the state, both public and private, should provide colored 
nurses to care for the colored patients, a fine being imposed in case 
of violation upon the organization or individual offending. In the 
same year Alabama adopted a much more stringent law, which 
rendered it unlawful for any white female nurse to nurse in wards 
or rooms in any hospital in the state, whether public or private, in 
which negro men are placed. This rendered it unlawful not only 
for a white nurse to care for a colored man, but also for a white 
nurse to care for a white person in a room containing a negro man. 
The penalty is heavier than that of the North Carolina act, including 
possible imprisonment in addition to fine. These two laws are 
significant as introducing a line of separation which has not before 
been required by legal enactment. 

Separation of negroes and white persons in state institutions such 
as prisons, reformatories, and homes for the blind and other defec- 
tives, has been maintained in the Southern states since any such 
activity was instituted, in general. Separation in prisons, reforma- 
tories, or other institutions, has been either recognized or required 
in the laws of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, 
Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Separation in 
asylums for the insane is either recognized or required in the laws 
of Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, 
and West Virginia. No other state contains any such legal require- 
ment. 



Chapter III 

General Development of Protective Legislation 

This chapter will treat of the outstanding features of the develop- 
ment of the several lines of protective legislation, in the states taker 
together. The most important legislation of this nature is civil 
rights legislation. It is the most common form of state protecth 
legislation, and often includes various provisions in a single ac 
After considering civil rights legislation, other protective enact- 
ments will be taken up, concerning education, transportation, Hi 
insurance regulation, jury service, and miscellaneous provision - 
Some of these subjects are included within certain civil rights law 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

The term "civil rights" refers to the rights possessed by an in 1 
vidual under the civil law, and the civil rights legislation of tj 
different states affecting negroes is directed to securing the rights c 
the colored race under the civil law. 

This legislation has been of two distinct kinds, one referring t 
such rights in general, and the second referring to a special portion 
i if t he field. The first class of legislation is that protecting the negr 
in his general rights under the civil law; such as his right equall 
with white citizens to make contracts, to hold and convey bot 
real and personal property, to the free use of the courts, and ii 
general to all measures directed toward the security of either perso; 
or property. The second class of legislation is that directed specially 
toward that portion of the field which consists of the right of th« 
negro to the accommodations of places of public resort, with some 
times other specific additions. In order to understand the devel- 
opment of such legislation in the United States it will be necessan 
to review briefly the Federal enactments upon the subject. Botl 
classes of legislation have been passed by Congress, but only th< 
ond class has in general been passed by the different state 
legislatures. 

In considering Federal enactments concerning the first class c 
legislation, jusl referred to, it is necessary first to speak of tl 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 27 

Thirteenth Amendment. This provided that neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude should exist in the United States. At firsl 
sight this may not seem to refer to rights before the civil law. How 
far it extends over this field has been the subject of many court 
decisions, holding that the scope of this amendment was wider than 
merely prohibiting physical slavery as an institution, and that it 
also affected civil freedom. This point will be found developed 
more fully by referring to the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, and exam- 
ining the majority and minority opinions. 

In actual practice the precise scope of the civil rights effect of 
this Amendment has not proved of great importance, in part be- 
cause it was soon followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This 
act established the citizenship of all negroes, and then provided 
specially that regardless of race and color all citizens should be 
entitled to the same rights under the civil law, especially reciting 
the right of making contracts, of equality in the courts, of inheriting, 
receiving, holding and conveying property of all kinds, and in 
ge r eral to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings 
er oyed by white citizens. This act belonged to the first-named class 
of the laws concerning civil rights. It covered the whole field by 
hi oad enactment. It also provided a penalty consisting of either 
fine or imprisonment, or both. This statute was passed by Congress 
over the veto of President Johnson. 

The subject of protection of the colored race in their rights before 
the civil law was of such importance that Congress felt it should 
rest upon a firmer foundation than an Act of Congress. It was 
also desirable to remove all question of the constitutionality and 
validity of the law of 1866. In view of the Dred Scott decision it 
was also necessary to provide for the citizenship of the negro race 
in a positive and certain manner. For these reasons, Congress 
adopted, in the same year, the Fourteenth Amendment, which was 
ratified and proclaimed two years later. This amendment was 
practically identical with the law of 1866, framed in terms suitable 
for the Constitution. It provided for the citizenship of all persons 
either born or naturalized in the United States. It next recited that 
no state should either make any law or enforce any existing law in 
abridgement of the privileges or immunities of citizens, nor deny 
to any person the equal protection of the laws. The Fourteenth 
Amendment did not refer specifically to either race, color, or pre- 



28 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 



vious condition of servitude, but was specially directed toward 
protection of the negro, as has been held by the courts many 
times, the leading case upon the point being the so-called Slaughter- 
House Cases of 1872, where the court pronounced that the recent 
Amendments, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth, were all 
specially directed toward the freedom of the slave race and the pro- 
tection of the newly made free men. The Fourteenth Amendment, 
following the previous law of 1866, established the general rights of 
the colored race before the civil law. Many decisions in interpreta- 
tion of it have been rendered, which have both applied the provisions 
of the amendment to many specific points and have also refused to 
apply them. For example, it has been held that the exclusion of 
negroes from juries on account of color is an abridgement of the 
Fourteenth Amendment. On the other hand it has been held 
that separate schools for children of different races do not 
violate it. 

Legislation of this first class, as above referred to, appeared in 
none of the statutes of the separate states, except Connecticut. The 
reason for this was the sufficiency of these statutory and constitu- 
tional provisions. It has not been necessary either before this date 
or subsequent to it for any state to pass a measure of general 
application. 

When we examine the second class of legislation, or that providing 
for protection of the colored race in enjoyment of the accommo- 
dations of places of public resort, the case is quite different. The 
first act of this kind appeared in Massachusetts in a statute of 1865. 
This provided simply that no distinction or discrimination on ac- 
count of race should be lawful in any licensed inn, public place of 
amusement, public conveyance, or public meeting. This was 
previous to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 of Congress. It was fol- 
lowed in 1866 by a statute very similar in terms, making it unlawful 
to exclude persons from or restrict them in any licensed public place 
of amusement, public conveyance, public meeting, or licensed inn, 
except for good cause. This omitted the reference to race or color 
and made the law general in its application, safeguarding it by the 
clause "except for good cause." It will be noticed that these two 
Civil Rights laws of Massachusetts both apply to public convey- 
ances, and in this respect antedate the law upon that subject enacted 
in 1867 by Pennsylvania. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 29 

During the Reconstruction period of the Southern states, a 
number of such states enacted Civil Rights laws, which were very 
full and stringent in their terms. South Carolina was the first state 
so to provide, being followed by Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, 
Florida and Mississippi. Missouri indeed antedated even South 
Carolina by a brief and ineffectual clause in its constitution of 
1865, but it enacted no subsequent legislation. The longest and 
most stringent of these acts was that of Arkansas. All of these 
Southern Civil Rights statutes were repealed either by special 
enactment to that effect or by omission from the Revised Statutes 
of their states after the end of the Reconstruction period, except 
such as were found not to be inconsistent with the trend of later 
legislation, through later interpretation of their precise terms. 

There was no further legislation in the Northern states upon this 
subject until 1873, when New York adopted a Civil Rights Act 
somewhat similar to that of Massachusetts, but in a fuller and more 
developed form. The next provision was in New York again, in 
1 88 1, which substantially reenacted the earlier provision, and pro- 
hibited discrimination in the enjoyment of the accommodations of 
taverns, public conveyances, and places of public resort or amuse- 
ment, because of race, creed or color. 

Between these two laws, however, came the Federal Act of 1875, 
known as the Civil Rights Act of that year. This followed in general 
terms the provisions of the Massachusetts and the New York 
statutes. It contained a preamble which was copied by the laws 
of several states. It then provided that all persons should be en- 
titled to full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations and privi- 
leges of inns, public conveyances on land and water, theatres, and 
other places of public amusement, subject only to conditions applic- 
able alike to citizens of every race. The penalty for violation of this 
law was both a forfeiture to the person aggrieved and fine or im- 
prisonment for the violator. In addition to these general provisions 
the Civil Rights Act of 1875 also contained a clause specially pro- 
hibiting discrimination in jury service. 

This law did not accomplish its purpose, for after its passage 
negroes still continued to be excluded from places of public resort. 
This resulted in a number of cases appearing in the courts, finally 
culminating in the so-called Civil Rights Cases, which were passed 
upon by the United States Supreme Court in 1883. These cases 



30 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

arose in Missouri and Tennessee in the South, and New York, 
Kansas and California in the North, and were brought for denying 
to negroes the accommodations of hotels, theatres and railroads. 
The New York case was for discrimination in the Grand Opera 
House. By a divided vote the Supreme Court held that the law of 
1875, insofar as it applied to the right of accommodation of the 
colored race in places of public resort, was unconstitutional and 
therefore void. The provision as to discrimination in jury service 
was held constitutional. 

This decision rendered it impossible for Congress to pass any 
general enactment prohibiting the passage of laws by individual 
states concerning the separation of negroes in places of public resort. 
No further legislation of this nature therefore appeared among the 
Federal statutes. All further legislation in this portion of the 
field was thereby thrown into the jurisdiction of the separate 
states. 

This did not greatly affect legislation appearing in the Southern 
states, for the reason that separation in places of public resort in 
most cases already existed and was enforced by the power of custom 
and the influence of the white race. It was followed, however, by 
enactments requiring separation in railroad transportation. These 
statutes had appeared before, but their general adoption came after 
this date, the Federal law of 1875 having included public convey- 
ances on land or water. 

The effect in the Northern states was quite different. These 
states, finding that the negro was no longer protected in this portion 
of the field of his civil rights by Federal legislation, proceeded to 
enact separate state laws covering the same ground in general. The 
year following the Supreme Court decision, four states passed such 
statutes, being followed successively by a large number of others. 
Civil Rights laws have been enacted by the following states; Califor- 
nia, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massa- 
chusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. 

The Civil Rights laws of the different states usually contained 
certain general provisions, and also certain specific references under 
one or more of these provisions. The general provisions of the 
different laws are very similar. The specific provisions vary con- 
siderably in the different states. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 31 

In regard to the general provisions, the laws provide that all 
persons shall be entitled to the full and equal accommodations of 
inns, public conveyances on land and water, and places of public 
accommodation or amusement. They make exception of conditions 
and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all citi- 
zens, without regard to race, color or previous condition of servitude. 
They all carry a penalty for violation, consisting usually of either 
fine or imprisonment. Many of the laws provide a forfeit to the 
person aggrieved. In some cases the payment of such a forfeit is a 
bar to criminal prosecution, and the reverse. There is no exception 
whatever in any state as regards the insertion of the clause concern- 
ing places of public amusement. Every state except California has 
the provision concerning public conveyances. The provision as to 
inns appears also in the laws of every state having any Civil Rights 
enactment, with the exception of Connecticut. The early Civil 
Rights act of Connecticut was drawn in different terms from those 
of the other states, it being modelled somewhat after the terms of 
the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1905 Connecticut passed a law 
resembling those of other states, but containing only clauses of 
general application. Inns would no doubt be regarded as included 
under its clause "Any place of public accommodation." 

In regard to the specific references, the laws of every state with 
the exception of Connecticut, whose law as just said contained only 
general provisions, and New Jersey and Rhode Island, all forbade 
distinction in eating houses by appropriate words. One or more of 
such terms are used as restaurants, chop houses, eating houses, lunch 
counters, boarding houses, etc. This point may be covered in both 
New Jersey and Rhode Island by the word inns. All of the states 
except Connecticut, Kansas, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, also 
specifically mentioned theatres, following the Federal Civil Rights 
Act of 1875 in this respect. Special mention of theatres seems un- 
necessary, as they are undoubtedly included in places of public 
amusement, which were covered by every law. It is interesting to 
note that the laws of all the states except five, namely Connecticut, 
Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, also specifi- 
cally included barber shops. Court decisions have held in several 
states that these were not included under the term places of public 
accommodation, and herein is probably the reason for the general 
inclusion of them in the laws. Various other specific places were 








32 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

included occasionally, such as music halls, skating rinks, ice cream 
parlors and soda fountains, elevators, public meetings, etc. These 
were simply amplifications of the general provisions of the law, 
inserted to meet local necessities. Saloons were included in the 
laws of Minnesota and Wisconsin and no distinction is allowed 
therein in those states. Colorado at one time prohibited discrimi- 
nation in churches, but this provision disappeared in a later 
statute. 

EDUCATION 

Legislation forbidding separation in schools or in education was 
adopted almost exclusively after the Civil War. Only one state 
adopted a clear provision to that effect before that time, namely 
Massachusetts, while Iowa adopted legislation somewhat doubtful 
in effect. Massachusetts in 1855 enacted a statute which prohibited 
distinction or exclusion from any public school on account of race, 
color, or religious opinion. The right to recover damages was given 
for any child so excluded. Iowa in its constitution of 1857 directed 
the education of "all the youths of the state." A restrictive statute 
was adopted soon after, which was held void on the ground that the 
terms of the constitution rendered it unlawful to exclude colored 
children from public schools or to compel them to attend separate 
schools. 

In the Reconstruction period two Southern states in 1868 adopted 
in their constitutions provisions forbidding separate institutions of 
learning. South Carolina provided that all public schools and in- 
stitutions of learning supported in whole or in part by the public 
funds should be open to all students without regard to race or color. 
Louisiana provided that no separate institution of learning 
should be established exclusively for any race. Both of these 
provisions were afterward omitted from the law without formal 
repealing. 

It was more than fifteen years after Massachusetts adopted its 
law before any further state than those named followed its example. 
In 1871 Michigan enacted a requirement somewhat similar in effect. 
In 1873 New York and in 1874 Kansas adopted in their civil rights 
laws a prohibition of discrimination in public schools. Kansas, 
however, later allowed separation," as mentioned elsewhere. From 
time to time different states later adopted similar provisions, none 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 33 

of them being Southern states. The states having laws prohibiting 
exclusion or discrimination in public schools are Colorado, Idaho, 
Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New 
Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and 
Utah. 

Separation in education was previously either permitted or re- 
quired in three of these states, New York, Montana, and Pennsyl- 
vania, which have thus reversed completely their earlier policy. 
Nevada, Ohio, and California have simply omitted former separa- 
tion requirements. 

Absolute prohibition of any compulsory separation in schools is 
not inconsistent with voluntary separation on the part of the negro 
himself. An example of this is found in New York, whose law 
specifically provides that no person shall be refused admission into 
or be excluded from any public school on account of race or color. 
Side by side, with this the law also provides a method of establish- 
ment of separate schools for the instruction of colored children in a 
school district. Where such a school is established, as is the 
case in New York City, the negro children are under no legal 
compulsion to attend it. Such separate schools therefore exist 
in New York from no compulsion in the law, but through the 
consent of the colored children themselves and their parents and 
guardians. 

Only one Northern state having adopted a prohibition of sepa- 
ration in education has ever repealed the law, namely, Arizona, 
which in 1909 took such action after only eight years experience 
with the act, and now permits separation. Kansas, which formerly 
forbade separation, without repealing its previous law now allows 
separation in limited form. Wyoming had no legislation in regard 
to this until 1887, when it adopted a law re-quirmg separation. 

TRANSPORTATION 

Provisions protecting the negro in his use of public conveyances 
and prohibiting discrimination have been enacted in a number of 
states. The first appearance of such legislation was in 1865, when 
Massachusetts in its Civil Rights law of that year included public 
conveyances, thereby prohibiting restriction in them on account of 
color. A general provision of the constitution of 1857 of Iowa was 
later construed by the state courts as prohibiting separation in 



34 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

transportation, but this cannot be called a law concerning trans- 
portation. Following the brief provision of Massachusetts, the next 
enactment appeared in i86t in Pennsylvania, which state, influenced 
possibly by the separation legislation just adopted by three Southern 
states, enacted a requirement to the opposite effect. It prohibited 
any railroad from excluding any person from its cars on account of 
race or color, or from attempting to compel any person to occupy 
any particular part of a car for the same reason, and imposed a 
forfeit of five hundred dollars to be paid to the person aggrieved, in 
addition to a penalty upon the railroad agent committing the 
offence. 

A number of the Southern states, possibly following the example 
of Pennsylvania, within the next five years enacted laws prohibiting 
discrimination in public conveyances. Louisiana in its Civil Rights 
law of 1869 inserted an extended provision with the somewhat 
curious wording that common carriers should have the right to 
refuse to admit any person to their cars or other vehicles, when 
guilty of disorderly conduct or of a breach of the regulations of the 
company, providing that the regulations made no discrimination 
on account of race or color. This law was probably intended as a 
prohibition of separation in public transportation. It will be seen 
by an examination of its wording that it did not in fact establish 
this, and accordingly the law has never been repealed but still 
remains in the statute books of the state. In the same year Miss- 
issippi adopted in its Reconstruction constitution a clause forbidding 
the infringing of the rights of all citizens to travel upon all public 
conveyances. During the following years of the Reconstruction 
period Georgia also prohibited separation in transportation, and the 
early separation laws of Florida and Texas were likewise replaced 
by specific provisions against separation. Arkansas also adopted a 
provision against such separation. All of these laws later disap- 
peared, except that of Mississippi. 

The further development of the prohibition of separation in 
transportation came through the Civil Rights laws of the various 
states. No further state adopted a separate provision to such 
effect, except as above stated. Every state which has a Civil 
Rights law, with the single exception of California, has included in 
it public vehicles or equivalent words, thereby prohibiting restric- 
tion or discrimination therein. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 35 

MISCELLANEOUS PROTECTIVE PROVISIONS 

In addition to the protective legislation already considered, 
various other protective provisions are of sufficient importance to 
justify mention, including enactments concerning life insurance, 
state troops, jury service, testimony, practising law, suffrage, ad- 
ministration of charity, and minor provisions. 

Protective legislation prohibiting discrimination or restriction by 
life insurance companies in the issuance of policies was adopted in 
several states. Massachusetts, which was the first state to enact a 
Civil Rights law, was also in 1884 the first state to enact the pro- 
hibition of this form of discrimination. This was followed in turn 
by statutes of Connecticut, Ohio, New York, and Michigan, the 
last named in 1893, since which time no further legislation of this 
kind has been adopted. The laws of these states were very similar. 
They prohibited any life insurance company from making any dis- 
tinction between white and colored persons in premium or rates, 
and forbade the company to add any stipulation by which a sum 
less than the face value of the policy might be paid upon it. In 
some cases if any colored person was refused, the company when 
requested was required to issue to him a certificate of the examining 
physician certifying that the refusal was not on account of the race 
of the applicant. These provisions were not incorporated into the 
Civil Rights laws of the respective states, but enacted in separate 
form. 

Negroes have been specially recognized in the state troops or 
militia in several states. Connecticut in 1879 authorized the or- 
ganization of four companies of infantry to be composed of colored 
men. These companies were to be independent and not attached 
to any existing regiment, unless in case of actual military service. 
This was a recognition of colored companies already existing in 
Connecticut. In 1883 reenacting and modifying its law as to militia, 
the state repealed the militia law of 1879, but specially provided 
that this should not affect the organization of the colored companies 
of infantry. New York state at the early date of 18 14 authorized 
the governor to raise two regiments of free men of color, for the 
defence of the state. The regiments were to be formed into a 
brigade. All commissioned officers of the company were directed 
to be white men. Almost one hundred years later in 1913 New York 
again provided for an additional colored regiment of infantry in 



36 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

the City of New York, which was to be a part of the National Guard 
of the state, subject in all respects to their regulations. No pro- 
vision as to the officers of this regiment being either white or colored 
appeared. New Jersey in 1895 provided that there should be or- 
ganized four companies of colored infantry in that state, which were 
to be separate companies, but incorporated in the regular militia. 
Michigan in 1901 provided that if more than forty companies of 
infantry were organized, at least one must be composed of colored 
men. In the law of 1905 referring to the National Guard, no specific 
mention was made of this colored company, and the special require- 
ment compelling its organization therefore apparently disappeared 
from the laws of that state. Finally in 1909 Indiana adopted an 
act requiring the Adjutant General to organize a battalion of colored 
infantry as part of the Indiana National Guard. 

The value of the colored man as a soldier has long been established. 
The colored regiments form an effective part of the military organi- 
zation possessing them. The only question involved in these states 
was whether the individual colored soldier should be incorporated 
into a separate regiment or company, or whether he should be dis- 
tributed throughout the other troops regardless of color. It is not a 
discrimination, but a matter of some interest to the colored race, to 
be able to maintain colored regiments, and to prove its efficiency in 
this respect. Membership in these state troops is voluntary. Such 
statutes in the Northern states are therefore not discrimination 
against the negro, but may be called instead a recognition of him. 

Discrimination or restriction in jury service has been forbidden 
by several states, following the example of the Federal Civil Rights 
law of 1875. The provision of the Federal law is still valid and 
therefore binding. Nevertheless these states have made the matter 
doubly sure by adopting specific prohibition of such discrimination 
on account of color. The states which adopted such a provision 
were Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Rhode 
Island, the laws all being adopted in 1884 and 1885, except that of 
New York in 1895. 

The testimony of negroes in legal proceedings was specially pro- 
tected in two states, Washington and West Virginia, which each 
enacted a provision in 1866 that no one should be incompetent as 
a witness on account of color. As previously said, no state now 
prohibits it. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 37 

The right to practice law as an attorney was the subject of a 
special statute in Colorado, which in 1887 provided that no person 
should be denied such right on account of either race or sex. There 
had been no previous restriction on account of color, this law being 
purely protective. In 1870 Iowa specially extended this right to 
members of all races, it having previously been restricted to white 
persons. 

Legislation concerning suffrage has been referred to in the pre- 
ceding chapter. It is sufficient to say here that while there has been 
legislation granting to the negro the right of the ballot, which is 
there mentioned and will therefore not be repeated in this place, 
there has been no further legislation concerning this subject which 
can properly be called protective, with the possible exception of an 
enactment of New York in 1870, prohibiting any inspector of elec- 
tions from making any demand of a negro different from that of a 
white person. 

Discrimination in the administration of the charity of any asso- 
ciation for the care of orphans was prohibited in an act of Indiana, 
in 1879, which further provided that associations maintaining 
colored orphan asylums should be entitled to the allowance provided 
for in the case of any orphan children. New Jersey in 1853 provided 
that poor colored servants were to be treated as were white paupers. 
These were the only examples found of reference to discrimination 
in the administering of charity or philanthropy. 

In the later laws of New York there are several provisions worth 
comment. In 1899 any discrimination was prohibited against any 
person or class, in the price charged for admission to any building, 
park, or other place or enclosure, which was open to the public 
generally. A statute in 1913 provided with considerable detail that 
no place of public accommodation or resort should refuse its accom- 
modations to any person, or advertise in any way the fact that such 
accommodations are refused, on account of race, creed, or color. 
The production of such communication either written or printed 
was constituted presumptive violation of the act. Though this 
statute applied to the negro its passage was supposed to have been 
secured by the Jewish race, which had been discriminated against 
in certain cases. 

Still another form of statute concerning the colored race was 
adopted in 1913 in New York, which created an Emancipation 



38 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Proclamation Commission to conduct an exhibition and celebration 
and appropriating $25,000 for this purpose. In 1915 the Governor 
was authorized to appoint five commissioners for the state of New 
York to the National Exposition in Richmond in that year to cele- 
brate the same anniversary. In 1915 Illinois also created a com- 
mission to conduct an exhibition and celebration in commemoration 
of the fiftieth anniversary of the emancipation of the negro, appro- 
priating likewise $25,000 for the purpose. These laws while con- 
ferring no rights upon the negro, were evidences of the interest in 
the emancipation of that race felt by the states concerned. 



Chapter IV 

Social Influences Affecting the Legislation 

In considering the course of legislation in the different states, is it 
possible to discover any fundamental underlying causes for the 
variation in legislation in the several states? Can any principles of 
action be formulated determining why certain states enact laws 
restricting the colored race, while other states pass laws to prevent 
such restriction, and still others ignore the colored question? Is 
there any reason for a separate education law appearing in a state 
where no separation in transportation is required, or in another 
state for intermarriage to be forbidden while separation in education 
is not required or is even actually prohibited. 

In examining the social disturbance created in society by the 
presence within it of a group dissimilar in nature from the other 
members, there are several factors to be considered. The effect of 
such a group will be great or small, and it will be approved or dis- 
approved by the society as a whole, according to the numerical size 
of the group, according to its dissimilarity from the rest, according 
to the rapidity of the process of assimilation, according to the 
strength of the group spirit and group unity, according to the pre- 
vious spirit of favor or opposition on the part of the other members, 
according to the activity and aggressiveness of the group, according 
to its power in controlling the other members and according to the 
conflict or unity of interest with the other members. This is not 
meant to be a complete enumeration of all possible factors, but a 
statement of the more important factors governing the relationship 
of an alien distinctive group in the midst of a larger social body. 

Not all of these factors are of importance in considering the posi- 
tion of the group constituted by the negro race amongst the body of 
the white population of the various states. The factor of extent of 
dissimilarity is substantially uniform in the different states. This 
is not wholly one of social, political and economic ideals, in which 
regard the negro race has fairly closely approached those members 
of the white race which occupy a similar social and economic posi- 
tion, but it is also a question of different and distinctive race ap- 



40 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

pe trance. The factor of rapidity of assimilation is also substantially 
uniform throughout the different states, because for the above 
reason this is chiefly a question of assimilation in race appearance, 
which is a process of marked slowness, accomplished only through 
the amalgamation of the races. If all other distinctive character- 
istics were lost, the difference in race appearance would still suffice 
to se1 apart the negro race in a distinct and dissimilar group in a 
whin- population, because negro blood is generally easily recognized 
and complete assimilation is practically impossible for at least 
several generations. 

The factor of group unity is also one which does not greatly affect 
tin- treatment of the negro in the different states, for the reason that 
such group unity is substantially the same everywhere, and further 
because in fact such unity is inchoate, disorganized, and without 
adequate expression either for themselves or others. In the past 
history of the negro race within the United States this factor has 
at times been one of significance and importance, but it is not at 

present so. 

The factor of the numerical size of the negro group in any state 
i- commonly accepted as the decisive cause for its treatment on the 
part of the state. Most writers make the simple statement that 
where the negro race is numerous there it is discriminated against; 
and where it is small in numbers compared to the rest of the popu- 
lation there it is not a disturbing element, and is either disregarded 
or el>e is actively protected. A quotation expressing this view is 
the following. 1 "The laws and customs of every state in the Union, 
from the beginning until this good hour, have been influenced by 
tin- factor of the relative numerical strength of the negro. . . . 
In the North he is permitted to attend schools and ride in cars with 
white people, and is not segregated in theatres, because as yet he is 
not numeric-ally strong enough to be personally offensive to the 
white population, or to justify the expense and annoyance which 
such general separation entails upon the white man himself." 

A consideration of the table given at the end of this chapter of 
the negro population in each state, showing its per cent, as com- 
pared with the white population and arrayed in accordance thereto, 
will make it difficult to accept the theory that the relative numerical 
strength of the negro in a Mate determines the treatment accorded 

1 A. 11. Stone, Studies in the American Race Problem, page 13. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 41 

to him by the state. It will be found for example that Washington 
with a negro population of five-tenths of one per cent, allows inter- 
marriage, having repealed a former law prohibiting it; while Mon- 
tana with the same per cent, of negro population prohibits inter- 
marriage; as does the state of Idaho which has two-tenths of one per 
cent., or less than half of the negro population of Washington, its 
neighboring state. Indiana and Ohio have practically the same per 
cent, of negroes, yet the former prohibits intermarriage while the lat- 
ter allows it. New Jersey with three and five-tenths per cent, allows 
intermarriage, while South Dakota with one-tenth of one per cent, 
forbids it. The same thing is also seen in considering the states 
which have enacted Civil Rights laws. There is a group of states in 
the west, the numbers of whose negro population do not exceed one- 
tenth of one per cent., which have never enacted any Civil Rights 
legislation. On the other hand there are a number of the Northern 
and Eastern states whose per cent, of negro population varies from 
one per cent, to three and five-tenths per cent., like New Jersey, 
which have adopted Civil Rights laws. In the same way in consider- 
ing separation in schools, the fact will be noted that with the excep- 
tion of the Southern states the numerical factor cannot be discovered 
as a controlling element. 

On the other hand it is plainly evident that the restrictive legis- 
lation of the Southern states, which is found in all of them, is due 
to the very large per cent, of negroes within their borders. Here 
again however, it becomes evident that this cannot be the sole con- 
trolling factor. Kentucky with a little over eleven per cent, and 
Texas with about eighteen per cent, contain substantially the same 
restrictive legislation as do the states of South Carolina and Miss- 
issippi with over fifty-five per cent. Yet it is evident that the chief 
difference between the group of Southern states and the other 
states of the country is found in the large negro population in the 
former group as a whole. 

The relative numerical strength of the negro may accordingly be 
accepted as a factor, but as only one factor in a situation evidently 
influenced by other elements. Where there is an overwhelming 
difference in numerical strength it may cause this factor to be de- 
cisive; where there is no overwhelming difference other factors than 
this are evidently those which control. 



42 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

The next factor which is of importance to consider is that of the 
previous attitude of the other members of the population toward 
the negro group. Here will be found an element which has had an 
import. nice only second to that of numbers, in influencing the 
course of legislation in the different states. In the United States 
there have been two different forms of opinion in regard to the 
negro race, the one accustomed to negro slavery and later favoring 
restriction of the race, the other early opposed to slavery and in 
favor of abolition, and desiring not only to refrain from imposing 
restrictions upon the negro, but also actively to protect him and 
his rights. The one form of opinion and sentiment centered in the 
South. The other type of opinion had its center in the North, 
especially in Massachusetts and New York. From the Eastern 
states both north and south there have flowed forth streams of in- 
fluence, together with streams of actual emigration, throughout the 
other states of the union. Those states which were settled largely 
by Southerners, or which were otherwise in contact with southern 
influence and connected by economic, social, or other relations with 
the South, have swung toward the southern type of legislation. 
Those states which have been largely settled by northern and eastern 
emigrants or which have been within the predominant sphere of 
influence of that region have tended to adopt legislation of a corres- 
ponding type. When the stream of influence or connection has 
become weakened through distance or otherwise, as is the case in 
both regions in certain states, there a partly developed form of 
legislation appears, similar to its influencing cause but less in volume 
and weakened in form. Where the streams of northern and southern 
influence have met in a state and have been in conflict, the legislation 
concerning the negro will often reflect the conflict, and will indicate 
which type of influence succeeded in the struggle and finally pre- 
dominated. 

For examples of such cases one may cite such states as Montana, 
North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado, which belong to the 
northern group of states, but whose legislation has been greatly 
weakened in this respect owing to their geographical distance from 
the northern center of influence, and the corresponding weakening 
of the stream. In the same way such states as Arizona and New 
Mexico show tin- southern influence, but in a weakened form. New 
Mexico being loe.tted close to a third focus of influence, namely, 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 43 

Mexico, affords an example of the early southern influence having 
been overcome by the effects of the influence of the population of 
Mexican blood. I n such states as Kansas one can see the struggle for 
predominance between northern and southern influence, the north- 
ern predominating but not quite completely. Both Indiana and 
Ohio show in their legislation the results of southern immigration 
entering the southern portions of the state and in conflict with 
northern immigration coming largely into the northern portion of 
the states. Ohio, however, has become a typical northern state, 
while Indiana still shows traces of its southern influence, as evi- 
denced in its permissive separate school law and in its law against 
intermarriage, such laws in Ohio having appeared earlier in its his- 
tory but later having entirely disappeared. 

It must be recognized therefore that this factor of the traditional 
attitude toward the negro group of the other portion of the popula- 
tion is of almost equal weight with that of relative numerical strength. 

Beside these two factors there is also a third one whose im- 
portance has not often been recognized. This is the factor of the 
power possessed by the negro group. Such power in a democracy 
is not expressed in terms of physical or military strength but in 
terms of political influence. 

In the Southern states the negroes did not possess the right of 
suffrage, until this was conferred upon them in form by the Fif- 
teenth Amendment in 1870. The actual effect of this amendment 
was not to place the actual ballot in the hand of every negro. At 
no time in the history of these states, except briefly and in limited 
form during Reconstruction, has the negro race been in a position 
to enforce its desires at the polls. This result has been accom- 
plished in part through the moral ascendancy of the white race 
over the colored race exercised to limit its use of the ballot, in part 
by such restrictions in the election laws as tend to disenfranchise 
negroes more than whites, and at times by other measures. The 
large group of the colored race in the South since Reconstruction 
days has therefore been in a position where it possessed no great 
power of the only kind which is effective. As a result, there has 
been no need to seek to secure their favorable consideration for any 
measure or for any party. 

On the other hand, in the Northern states since 1870 the negro has 
everywhere received the ballot upon terms of equality with the 



44 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

white race. The result of this is that where his numbers have been 
large enough in the community, it has been of importance to the 
political managers of the different political groups to consult his 
interests and to endeavor to secure his cooperation. The effect of 
this is to reverse the influence of the relative numerical strength of 
the colored race. In the South numerical strength acts to handicap 
the- negro and to increase discriminations against him in legislation. 
In the Northern states where the negro is weak in numbers, he is 
thereby weak in political influence. Where he is strong in num- 
bers he becomes strong in political influence. In some states his 
aid and support is actively sought at election time. The great 
political parties take pains to plan measures for securing his alle- 
giance and his favor. Such statutes as those of New York and 
Illinois creating an emancipation proclamation commission to cele- 
brate the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation, show not only a 
friendly interest in the colored race, but also reflect a desire on the 
part of the party in power to win his political support. The negro 
population of the two cities of Chicago and New York, which is 
large enough to be of marked importance at election time, was a 
factor in the case of each of these statutes. 

Where the negro has once secured the ballot it may prove a matter 
of difficulty to withdraw it from him again. This has been the his- 
tory of the extension of the right of suffrage. Once conferred, it is 
only with difficulty withdrawn. This will probably lead, as the 
negro numbers of the Northern states increase, to the repeal 
of some of the existing restrictions affecting him, and to the enact- 
ment of further laws in his favor, if he feels such are desirable. If 
the negro race in the South should come into the full exercise of the 
franchise it would probably be followed by alterations in the present 
southern legislation. 

The further factor of the aggressiveness of the group concerned is 
not of much importance in considering the negro problem. Nowhere 
is the negro at present aggressive politically. He is inclined to be 
docile to those whom he recognizes as leaders. He shows little of 
the political talent or aptitude, for example, of the Irish race. If 
the negro were to become more active politically, or if he were 
directed by political leaders able to maintain a close group unity 
and to direct aggressively along political lines, the negro would 
probably secure more political recognition than he has as yet. There 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 45 

is one possible alternative to this, in that the present comparative 
inactivity of the negro politically disarms any hostility which might 
otherwise be aroused on the part of the white race if the negro 
becomes too aggressive before his numbers become such that no 
white political leader or party can afford to oppose him. As has 
just been said, however, the position of those writers is probably 
wrong who hold that an increased number of negroes in the Northern 
states will automatically lead to hostility and opposition by the 
mere force of the fact of such numbers. On the contrary, their in- 
crease may result in increased consideration and in strengthened 
position, unless the varying white interests should be united into a 
compact force directed against the colored race. As the negro in 
the North increases in numbers it will not necessarily prove true 
that proportionate discrimination against him will arise. 

There is another element which enters into the question of the 
effect on legislation in the different states of the factors which have 
just been considered. The different subjects of legislation are not 
equally affected by any single factor of those mentioned. Certain 
lines of legislation are more responsive to relative numerical strength, 
while others are affected more by other elements. For example, 
separation in transportation is obviously more connected with the 
numbers of the negro race in the population, or to be more accurate, 
their numbers in the travelling portion of the population. Yet this 
also is subject to modification through the operation of other factors. 
Oklahoma with a comparatively small negro population required 
separation in the waiting rooms of all railway stations throughout 
the state. It was later found necessary to modify this, as many 
small places in the state had no negroes whatever and it was impos- 
sible to maintain separate waiting rooms which would never be used. 
The law against intermarriage is not greatly affected by the nu- 
merical strength of the negro. Its adoption evidently depends upon 
the strength of the sentiment against racial admixture, without 
primary reference to the volume of the colored race in the state. 
Statutes in restriction of the colored race may be ranked in accord- 
ance with the tendency toward their adoption. The law against 
intermarriage is not only usually the first to appear chronologically, 
but is also the most widespread. Next comes separation in educa- 
tion, following that, separation in transportation, and thereafter 
miscellaneous minor provisions. 



46 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

In considering the laws of the Northern states in protection of the 
colored race, the factors above referred to can be seen in operation 
in a more limited way. The relative numerical strength of the 
colored race plays no part whatever in securing the adoption of a 
Civil Rights law, except, as would be expected, by reverse effect. 
That is, the states located in the North which have the largest 
proportion of the colored race have all adopted Civil Rights statutes. 
Those states which have not yet enacted such legislation are the 
state- where the colored population is very small in proportion. 

The traditional attitude of the white portion of the population is 
of more importance in determining the adoption of Civil Rights 
laws. Where the state has been in the direct line of Northern in- 
lluence there such legislation appears. This factor is the controlling 
one in most of the Northern states, in the adoption of such legisla- 
tion, rather than any of the others. It is this factor also which, as 
has been indicated, has led to the repealing of earlier restrictive 
laws in the Northern states. This has been done in spite of the 
steadily increasing numbers of the colored population of those 
states. 

The factor of conflict of interest must finally be considered. This 
interest will in most cases be economic. It can arise, however, from 
such motives as religion, nationality, and lesser causes. For exam- 
ple, a group otherwise almost identical with the general body may 
be led by reasons of nationality into hostility with it, as seen in the 
case of Germans long resident in England but for the duration of the 
war necessarily interned to protect the nation. The factor of con- 
flict of interest affects the negro at present only slightly, and that 
through the side of economic interest. It has future possibilities, 
however, both in the North and in the South, especially because of 
the influx of negro laborers into the North. If negro workingmen 
come into active competition with white workingmen over securing 
of available work, or other industrial interests, it will carry the pos- 
sibility of arousing active hostility. This will arise more easily and 
Ik- more active on account of the negro dissimilarity. There is in 
tin- factor the possibility of a reversal of the course of legislation in 
the North concerning the negro. It is not yet active. Whether it 
will arise cannot now be foreseen. 

To sum up briefly, there are a number of factors whose operation 
determines the passage of legislation either in the protection of or 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 47 

in restriction of the negro. They are somewhat affected by the 
varying resisting powers of the different types of legislation. These 
factors seem intelligibly and sufficiently to explain not only present 
legislation but also the historical development through which it has 
passed. 

As a result of the operation of these factors, the different states 
can be classified into various groups, according to the attitude of 
their legislation toward the negro race. It is apparent that the 
Southern states form one group. Within this group there are slight 
differences, some states being leaders in the development of certain 
legislation, and some showing slightly different tendencies from the 
others. These differences while distinct are not marked enough to 
warrant splitting up the Southern states into sub-groups. Various 
minor classifications and divisions can be made through examination 
of the laws and their development, as found in these states, but such 
differences are not sufficient to create any great distinction among 
the Southern states. Missouri alone constitutes an exception, 
showing strong northern influence. 

The state of New Mexico must be placed in a classification by 
itself. Its legislation was at first southern in tendency. This in- 
fluence was later overcome, as seen elsewhere, not by northern influ- 
ence but by the influence of the Mexican population of the state. 
The state therefore should not be grouped with either Northern or 
Southern states, but forms a distinct division, although but a single 
state. It will be noted that the other states bordering upon the 
Mexican frontier have not been affected in the same manner and 
fall into the other classifications herein referred to. 

The Northern states as a whole may be regarded as a distinct 
group in themselves. There are evident among them, however, 
distinctly marked differences which require their further classifi- 
cation into sub-groups. 

The first of these sub-groups to require attention is that consisting 
of the border states of the North in proximity to the Southern 
states. These border states distinctly show the results of this 
proximity. Either in their present legislation or in their past legis- 
lation, they are distinct from the other Northern states. This can 
be recognized in Ohio, Indiana, Kansas and other states. It does 
not hold, however, for all of the states just north of the border. In 
Pennsylvania, unlike the situation in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 



48 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Southern influence did not penetrate through the southern portion 
of the state sufficiently to reach the legislative centres. 

The states which lie at the point of furthest distance from the 
Southern states again form a somewhat distinct group by them- 
selves. They are isolated by reason of their position from partici- 
pation in the negro question, regardless of other factors. An ex- 
ample of this can be seen in New England, where the southern New 
England states are typically northern states. The northern New 
England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are entirely 
distinct in their legislative attitude from the southern section of 
New England. The stream of influence affecting such legislation 
which flowed from Massachusetts evidently tended southward and 
westward. The northern New England States were left in an eddy 
of the stream, and remained unaffected by its current. They also 
may be said to have been separated by buffer states, the southern 
New England states serving this purpose. Further west similar 
states located upon the northern border can be recognized, which 
likewise have been isolated from lively participation in the negro 
problem by the other Northern states lying between themselves 
and the South. Montana and North Dakota are in this group, and 
one or two others should perhaps also be placed in it. 

The Western states as a whole, omitting the tier of states imme- 
diately to the west of the Mississippi River, while entirely Northern 
in their main classification, form roughly a group by themselves, in 
that they show weakened Northern influence and a distinct ad- 
mixture of Southern influence. The legislation in this group of 
states varies from state to state. One cannot generalize, as can be 
dune in those states of the Northern group which lie further east, 
as to what precise forms of legislation exist in them. These states 
then form a somewhat distinct group, not so much owing to the 
strong predominance of a given type of legislation, as owing to the 
absence of this. 

The remaining Northern group of states is of course that group 
in the east and the middle west which are in every respect strong 
typical Northern states. These sub-groups within the larger 
Northern group will be seen to be in accordance with the operation 
"I tin- principles which have just been discussed, and to yield 
further illustrations of their operation. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 49 

The most typical Southern law, which is found in every state 
within the Southern group, with the exception of Missouri and 
Delaware, is the law requiring separation in transportation. Civil 
Rights legislation has commonly been regarded as the distinctive mark 
of Northern states. This is not the case. Many of the Northern 
states which are in no respect whatever influenced by the South do 
not possess such a law. The Northern states are marked rather by 
absence of Southern influence, and by various laws of Northern trend. 

While statesmen and observers of public affairs have devoted 
great attention to the many different sides of the negro question, 
there can be found little evidence in statutory enactments that 
legislators have done likewise. In the South, the one underlying 
motive of separation has been the controlling force. In the North, 
attention has been paid chiefly to protecting the interests and 
rights of the negro from invasion, with the addition of a few scat- 
tered restrictive measures. The legislation shows no constructive 
plans and measures for the development and welfare of the colored 
race, either in the North or in the South. The single exception to 
this is an abortive and fruitless colonization plan. Various plans 
for the development of the colored race socially and economi- 
cally have been proposed, and one might expect in the history of 
legislation especially in the South a record of experiments in such 
lines. Social experimentation is constantly being carried on through 
legislation on many subjects of the public welfare. None of this is 
found with reference to the negro. 

One reason for this lies in the fact that it is in large part impossible 
to enact legislation directed specially and solely toward the negro 
race, even for the development and welfare of that race. Legisla- 
tion must today apply to both races without discrimination. 
Further, many measures of social construction may in fact benefit 
the negro, and whatever enactments make for the welfare of the 
white population or of the general population should also make for 
the welfare of the negro. Through separate institutions and 
educational facilities, and in other ways, various constructive 
measures are in fact being developed outside the field of legislation. 

To what extent legislation can be utilized as a constructive force 
in solving the negro problem, however, lies outside the scope of this 
essay. It need only be remarked, in closing, that it has not been 
so utilized to the extent that would seem to have been possible. 



TABLES 

Tables showing chronological enactment of legislation 

Acts concerning intermarriage 

Acts sanctioning separation in education 

Ad- prohibiting separation in education 

Acts concerning transportation 

Acts concerning civil rights 
Table of the number and per cent, of negro population in each state. 

DESCRIPTION 

In each table of legislation the italic abbreviation of a state, 
thus, Mass., signifies the original legislation in that state concern- 
ing the given subject. Where the abbreviation of a state is not 
in italics, it signifies further enactments after the original act. 

The table concerning intermarriage shows the legislation on this 
subject, the names of states with no description following signify- 
ing legislation prohibiting intermarriage. Legislation is not included 
which consists of repetition in compiled statutes or otherwise of 
previous acts. 

The table of legislation sanctioning separation in education shows 
the legislation approving of such separation, whether permissive or 
compulsory. Absence of description signifies compulsory legisla- 
tion, other forms being named. Legislation referring to private 
schools or schools other than public is so described. 

The table of legislation prohibiting separation in education con- 
tains the laws of that nature, the insertion of them in the preceding 
table being found undesirable. 

The table ot legislation concerning transportation contains the 
laws on tint subject. Where not specified the laws are requirements 
ol separation in the cars of railroads. 

The table ol legislation concerning civil rights shows the laws 
referring to that subject. When not described, the laws establish 
civil rights. Other legislation is described. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF LEGISLATION 
CONCERNING INTERMARRIAGE 

Laws other than prohibition of intermarriage are indicated 



51 



1786 


Mass. 




1872 


R. I. (repeated), Ala. (law 


1798 


R.I. 






held void bystatecourt). 


1821 


Me. 




1873 


Va., N. C. 


1834 


Mass. 




1874 


Del. 


1838 


Mich. 




1875 


N. C. (Constitution). 


1843 


Ind., Mass. (repeal). 




1877 


Ala. (law again held valid 


1850 


Cal. 






by state court). 


1852 






1879 


S. C. (reenacted), Tex. 


1854 


Wash. 




1880 


Miss, (inserted). 


1855 


Kan. 




1881 


Fla., R. I. (repealed). 


1857 


Me. (omit), N. Mex. 




1882 


W. Va. 


1859 


Kan. (repeal). 




1883 


Me. (repealed), Mich, (re- 


1861 


Nev., Ohio. 






pealed). 


1862 


Ore. 




1884 


Md. 


1864 


Colo. 




1885 


Neb. 


1865 


Ariz., Ga., Miss., . 


S.C., 


1887 


Ohio (repealed). 




Wash., Ala. (Constitu- 


1888 


Utah. 




tion). 




1890 


Miss. (Constitution). 


1866 


Neb., N. Mex. (rej 


Deal), 


1894 


La. 




Ark., Mo., Ky. 




1895 


S. C. (Constitution). 


1867 


Ida., Wash, (repeal) 


Ore. 


1901 


Ala. 


1868 


S. C. (repeal). 




1907 


Okla. 


1870 


Tenn. (Constitution, 


stat- 


1908 


La. (concubinage). 




ute). 




1909 


Mont., S. Dak. 


1871 


Miss, (omitted). 




1913 


Neb., S. Dak. 



52 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF LEGISLATION SANCTIONING 
SEPARATION IN EDUCATION 

Laws other than separation laws are indicated 



1829 


Ohio. 


1878 


Miss., Ohio (permit). 


1843 


Ind. (permit). 


1880 


Cal. (repeal). 


1845 


La. (Constitution), N. Y. 


1881 


Pa. (repeal of general law 




(local), Va. 




of 1854). 


1 846 


Iowa, Mo. (not to teach). 


1883 


Del. 


1847 


Ohio (permit). 


1885 


Fla. (Constitution), N.C. 




Del., Ohio (require), N. Y. 


1887 


Ohio (repeal), Wyo. (per- 




(local). 




mit). 


[854 


Pa. 


1889 


Mont. (omit). 


1858 


Iowa (held unconstitu- 


1890 


Miss. (Constitution), 




tional by court, 1858). 




Okla. (permit). 


1862 


Kan. 


1891 


Ky. (Constitution). 


1864 


X. Y. (general, permit). 


1893 


Del., Tex. 


1865 


Mo., Mo. (Constitution), 


1895 


Ga., Fla. (private schools), 




Nev., W. Va. 




S. C. (Constitution), 


1866 


Ark., Tenn., Tex. 




Tex. 


1868 


Ala., Kan. (permit). 


1896 


S. C. 


1869 


Cal., Ind., Pa. (local), 


1897 


Okla. 




Va., Ky. (permit). 


1898 


Del., La. (Constitution). 


1870 


Md. .Tenn. (Constitution). 


1900 


N. Y. (repeal and pro- 


1871 


Mont. 




hibited). 


1872 


Ga., Md., Pa. (repeal of 


1901 


Ala., Tenn. (private 




1869 law), W. Va. 




schools). 




(Constitution). 


1902 


Va. (Constitution). 


1873 


Ark., Ky. (general), Nev. 


1903 


N.C. 




(omitted). 


1904 


Ky. (private schools). 


1875 


N. C. (Constitution), Ala., 


1905 


Kan. 




(Constitution). 


1907 


Okla. (Constitution). 


1876 


Kan., Tex. (Constitution). 


1908 


Okla. (private schools). 


1877 


Ind. (permit), Ga. (Con- 


1909 


Ariz, (permit). 




Mitution). Del. 


1913 


Fla. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF LEGISLATION PROHIBITING 
SEPARATION IN EDUCATION 

Lazes other than prohibition of separation are indicated 



53 



1855 Mass. 
1857 Iowa. 
1868 La. (Constitution), S. C. 

(Constitution). 
1 87 1 Mich. 

1873 N. Y. (in Civil Rights 

law). 

1874 III., Kan. (in Civil Rights 

law) . 

1876 Colo. (Constitution), Kan. 

(by omission). 

1877 Minn. 

1879 La. (Constitution omit). 



1881 Kan., N. J., Pa. 

1882 R. I. 

1889 Ida., Mont. (Constitu- 
tion). 

1895 Utah (Constitution), 
Mont. 

1900 N.Y.(full prohibition law). 

1 90 1 Ariz., N. Mex. 
1903 N.J. 

1905 Minn. 

1909 Ariz, (repeal by permis- 
sive law). 
191 1 N. Mex. (Constitution). 



"^ 



54 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF LEGISLATION CONCERNING 
SEPARATION IN TRANSPORTATION 

Laws other than requirements of separation are indicated 

Note. Prohibition of separation when merely a clause in a civil rights statute is 
not recorded here, except for the first provision, in Massachusetts, and for the South- 
ern states, otherwise most of the civil rights laws would necessarily be here included. 

La. (depots). 
S.C. 
Ga., N. C. 

S. C, Va. 

N. C, Va. (partial street 
railway law). 

La. (street railways), Va. 
(partial street railways) . 

Ark. (street railways), S. 
C, Tenn. (partial street 
railways). 

Aid., Miss, (street rail- 
ways), S. C, Va. (de- 
pots, wharves author- 
ized), Md. (boats). 

Fla. (street railways), S. 
C. (suburban railways), 
Tenn. (street railways). 

S. C. (meals at depots), 
Va. (street railways, 
general). 

Fla. (waiting rooms, elec- 
tric cars), N. C. (street 
railways), Okla., Okla. 
(street railways and de- 
pots), Tex. (street rail- 
ways) . 

Md. (electric railways), 
Md. (railroads and 
boats). 

Tex. (depots). 

Okla. 



1865 


Fla., Miss., Mass. (prohib- 


1894 




ited in Civil Rights law). 


1898 


1866 


Tex. 


1899 


1867 


Pa. (prohibited). 


1900 


1869 


La. (prohibited), Miss, 
(prohibited in Consti- 


1901 




tution). 


1902 


1870 


Ga. (prohibited). 




1871 


Tex. (prohibited in Civil 
Rights law). 


1903 


1873 


Miss, (prohibited in Civil 






Rights law), La. (pro- 


1904 




hibited in Civil Rights 






law), Ark. (prohibited 






in Civil Rights law), 






Fla. (prohibited in Civil 


1905 




Rights law). 




1875 


Del. (permitted, cars and 






boats), Tenn. (permit- 


1906 




ted). 




1881 


Ten n . 




1882 


Tenn. 


1907 


1887 


Fla. 




1888 


Miss, (also authorized in 
depots). 




1889 


Tex. 




lS(,o 


La. 




1891 


Ala., Ark., Tenn., Tex., 
da. (also partial street 
railway requirement). 


1908 


1892 


Ky. 


1909 


1893 


Ark. (waiting rooms also), 
Ky. 


1911 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 



55 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF LEGISLATION CONCERNING 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

(Including also life insurance acts) 

Laws other than requirement of civil rights are indicated 



1865 


Mass., Mo. (Constitu- 


1884 


Conn., Iowa, Mass. (life- 




tion), United States 




insurance), N. J., Ohio. 




(Thirteenth Amend- 


1885 


Colo., III., Ind., Mass., 




ment). 




Mich . , Minn . , Neb .,R.I. 


1866 


Mass., Fla. (Anti-Civil 


1887 


Conn, (life insurance), Pa. 




Rights), United States. 


1889 


Conn, (life insurance), 


1868 


S. C. (Constitution), 




Ohio (life insurance), 




United States (Four- 




Wash. 




teenth Amendment). 


1891 


111., N. Y. (life insurance). 


1869 


La., S. C. 


1892 


Iowa. 


1870 


United States (Fifteenth 


1893 


Col., Mass., Mich, (life 




Amendment), United 


-.. 


insurance), Neb., Ohio 




States (Enforcement , 




(life insurance). 




Act). 


1894 


Ohio. 


1871 


Tex. 


1895 


Colo., Mass., N. Y., 


1873 


Ark., Del. (Anti-Civil 




Wash., Wise. 




Rights), La., Fla., 


1897 


Cal., 111., Minn. 




Miss., N. Y. 


1898 


N.J. 


1874 


Kan. 


1899 


Minn., N. Y. 


1875 


Del. (Anti-Civil Rights), 


1902 


La. (repeal). 




Tenn. (Anti-Civil 


1903 


111. 




Rights), United States. 


1905 


Conn. 


1876 


N. C. (Anti-Civil Rights). 


1907 


Ark. (repeal). 


1881 


N.Y. 


1909 


Wash. 


1883 


(United States Civil 


1911 


111. 




Rights cases). 


1913 


N.Y. 



56 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 



ABSOLUTE NUMBERS AND PER CENT. OF 
NEGRO POPULATION IN EACH STATE 

United States Census of iqio 

26 111. 109,049 1.9 

27 Ind. 60,320 2.2 

28 Ohio 111,452 2.3 

29 Pa. I93'9I9 2.5 

30 Kans. 54.030 3-2 

31 N.J. 89,760 3.5 

32 Mo. 157.452 4-8 

33 W. Va. 64,173 5.3 

34 Okla. 137.612 8.3 

35 Ky. 261,656 1 1.4 

36 Del. 31. 181 154 

37 Tex. 690,049 17.7 

38 Md. 232,250 17.9 

39 Term. 473.o88 21.7 

40 Ark. 442,891 28.1 

41 D. C. 94.446 28.5 

42 N. C. 697,843 31.6 

43 Va. 671,096 32.6 

44 Fla. 308,669 41.0 

45 Ala. 908,282 42.5 

46 La. 713.874 43-1 

47 Ga. 1,176,987 45-i 

48 S. C. 835,843 55.2 

49 Miss. 1,009,487 56.2 

Total 9.827,763 



I 


N. H. 


564 


.1 


2 


Wis. 


2,900 


.1 


3 


N. Dak. 


617 


.1 


4 


S. Dak. 


817 


.1 


5 


Me. 


1,363 


.2 


6 


Ida. 


651 


.2 


7 


Ore. 


i,492 


.2 


8 


Minn. 


7,084 


•3 


9 


Utah 


1,144 


•3 


10 


Vt. 


1,621 


•5 


1 1 


Mont. 


1,834 


•5 


12 


N. Mex. 


1,628 


•5 


13 


Wash. 


6,058 


•5 


14 


Mich. 


I7,H5 


.6 


15 


Neb. 


7.689 


.6 


16 


Nev. 


513 


.6 


17 


la. 


14.973 


*7 

•/ 


18 


Cal. 


21,645 


•9 


19 


Ariz. 


2,009 


1.0 


20 


Mass. 


38,055 


1.1 


21 


Conn. 


15,174 


1.4 


22 


Colo. 


11,453 


1.4 


23 


N. Y. 


I34,i9i 


i-5 


24 


Wyo. 


2,235 


i-5 


25 


R. I. 


9,529 


1.8 






PART II 
CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF THE LAWS 

United States 

1856 

Dred Scott v. Sandjord, 19 Howard {United States), p. 393, 1856. The 
decision delivered by Chief Justice Taney held that persons of the 
African race who were brought to the country, together with their 
descendants, were chattels with "no rights and privileges but such 
as those who hold the power and conduct the government might 
choose to grant them," and that they were not citizens nor capable of 
being such. 

1865 

Amendment XIII, 13 Stat. L., p. 567, Feb. 1, 1865. Section I. 
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment 
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- 
diction. (Proclamation of ratification, December 18, 1865.) 

1866 

14 Stat. L., p. 27, April 9, 1866. An act to protect all persons in the 
United States in their Civil Rights. 

Section I. All persons born in the United States and not subject 
to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby de- 
clared to be citizens of the United States, and such citizens of every 
race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery 
or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof 
the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, 
in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and 
enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, 
purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, 
and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for security 
of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall 



58 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none 
other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom, to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 

Section 2. Any person who under color of any law, statute, ordi- 
nance, regulation or custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, 
any inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of any 
right secured or protected by this act, or to different punishment, 
pains, or penalty, on account of such person having at any time 
been in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude or by reason 
of his color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white 
persons, is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined not exceed- 
ing $1,000, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both. 
Amendment XIV, 14 Stat. L., p. 358, June 16, 1866. Section 1. All 
persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States, and of the 
State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the 
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, 
or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person 
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (Proclama- 
tion of ratification, July 28, 1868.) 

1869 

Amendment XV, 15 Stat. L., p. 346, February 27, i86g. The right 
of any citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or 
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, 
color or previous condition of servitude. (Proclamation of ratifica- 
tion, March 30, 1870.) 

1870 

16 Stat. L., p. 140. Enforcement Act.- Approved May 31, 1870. 
Act to enforce the Rights of Citizens of the United States to vote in 
the several States, and for other purposes. 

Section I. Race, color or previous condition of servitude shall 
not affect the right to vote at any election. 

Section 2. Nor shall the enforcement of any prerequisite to the 
right of voting affect such right. Penalty, $500 forfeit to the person 
aggrieved, with full costs and allowance for counsel fees, and the 
offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, with a fine of not less than 
$500 or imprisonment from one month to one year, or both. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 59 

Section 4. Penalty for unlawfully obstructing any citizen from 
qualifying himself to vote, or from voting, a fine of not more than 
$500 or imprisonment from one month to one year, or both. 

Section 5. Intimidating or attempting to intimidate by bribery 
or threats from exercising right of suffrage; same penalty. 

Section 16. All persons shall have same right to make and enforce 
contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and 
equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for security of person and 
property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to 
like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of 
every kind, and none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation 
or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding; and any law of any 
State in conflict with this provision is hereby declared null and void. 

Section 17. Penalty, a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment 
not exceeding one year, or both. 

Section 18. The Act to protect all persons in United States in 
their Civil Rights and to furnish the means of their vindication, 
passed April 9, 1866, is hereby reenacted, and sections 16 and 17 
hereof shall be enforced according to the provisions of said Act. 

1871 

17 Stat. L., p. 13, April 20, 1S71. Act to enforce Provisions of 
Fourteenth Amendment, and for other purposes. 

Section 1. Any person who under color of any law, statute, 
ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any state, shall subject 
or cause to be subjected, any person within the jurisdiction of the 
United States to the deprivation of any rights, privileges or immuni- 
ties secured by the Constitution of the United States, shall, any 
such law to the contrary notwithstanding, be liable to the party 
injured in any action at law, etc. 

Penalty, a fine from $500 to $5,000, or imprisonment with or 
without hard labor from six months to six years, or both. 

1875 

18 Stat. L., p. 335, March 1, 1875. Act to protect all citizens in their 
civil and legal rights. 

Section 1. Whereas it is essential to just government that we 
recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it is 
the duty of government in its dealings with people to mete out equal 



6o State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

and exact justice to all, of whatever nationality, race, color or per- 
suasion, religious or political; and it being the appropriate object of 
legislation to enact great fundamental principles into law; There- 
fort-, be it enacted, etc. That all persons within the jurisdiction of 
the United States shall be entitled to full and equal enjoyment of the 
accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of inns, public 
conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public 
amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations estab- 
lished by law and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, 
regardless of any previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. For the denial of such rights except for reasons by 
law applicable to citizens of every race and color, and regardless of 
any previous condition of servitude, or for aiding or inciting such 
denials, the offender shall forfeit and pay the sum of $500 to the per- 
son aggrieved, with full costs, and upon conviction he shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not less than $500 nor 
more than $1,000, or shall be imprisoned from thirty days to one 
year. Provided that all persons may elect to sue for the penalty 
aforesaid or to proceed under their rights at common law and by 
State statutes, and having elected to proceed in the one mode or 
the other, their right to proceed in the other jurisdiction shall be 
barred. But this proviso shall not apply to criminal proceedings, 
cither under this act or the criminal law of any State. Provided 
further, That a judgment for the penalty in favor of the party 
aggrieved or a judgment upon an indictment, shall be a bar to either 
prosecution respectively. 

Section 4. No citizen possessing all other qualifications which are 
or may be prescribed by law shall be disqualified for service as 
grand or petit juror in any Court of United States, or of any State, 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and 
any officer or other person charged with any duty in the selection or 
summoning of jurors who shall exclude or fail to summon any 
citizen for the cause aforesaid shall, on conviction thereof, be 
deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and be fined not more than $5,000. 

1883 

Civil Rights Cases, 109 United States, p. j, 1S83. Five cases brought 
on account of violation of Civil Rights, in Kansas, California, 
Missouri, New York, and Tennessee. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 6 1 

Judge Bradley. "These cases are all founded on the first and 
second sections of the Act of Congress, known as the Civil Rights 
Act, passed March i, 1875. Two of the cases are for denying to per- 
sons of color the accommodations and privileges of any inn or hotel; 
two of them are, the one for denying the privileges and accommoda- 
tions of a theater — in refusing a colored person a seat in the dress 
circle, and the other for denying the full enjoyment of the accommo- 
dations of the theater known as the Grand Opera House in New 
York, said denial not being made for any reasons by law applicable 
to citizens of every race and color, and regardless of any previous 
condition of servitude; the last case on account of the refusal of the 
conductor of a railroad company to allow the wife of complainant to 
ride in a ladies car for the reason that she was a person of African 
descent." 

"The primary and important question in all the cases is the con- 
stitutionality of the law. No one will contend that the power to pass 
it was contained in the Constitution before the adoption of the last 
three amendments." 

Concerning the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court held, "It is 
State action of a particular character that is prohibited. Individual 
invasion of individual rights is not the subject matter of the amend- 
ment." "It does not authorize Congress to create a code of muni- 
cipal law for the regulation of private rights, but to provide modes 
of redress against the operation of State laws, and the action of State 
officers, executive or judicial, when these are subversive of the fun- 
damental rights specified in the Amendment." "And so in the 
present case, until some State law has been passed or some State 
action has been taken, no legislation of the United States can be 
called into activity. Of course, legislation may be provided in 
advance to meet the exigency when it arises, but not general legis- 
lation upon the rights of the citizen, but corrective legislation." 

Concerning the Thirteenth Amendment the Court held, "Can the 
act of a mere individual, the owner of the inn, the public conveyance, 
or place of amusement, refusing the accommodation, be justly 
regarded as imposing any badge of slavery or servitude upon the 
applicant, or only as inflicting an ordinary civil injury, properly 
cognizable by the laws of the State, and presumably subject to 
redress by those laws until the contrary appears?" "We are forced 
to the conclusion that such an act of refusal has nothing to do with 



62 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

slavery or involuntary servitude, and that if it is violative of any 
right of the party, his redress is to be sought under the laws of the 
State; or if those laws are adverse to his rights and do not protect 
him, his remedy will be found in the corrective legislation which 
( ongress has adopted or may adopt for counteracting the effect of 
State laws or State action, prohitited by the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment." 

"The first and second sections of the Act are unconstitutional and 
void." 

An able dissenting opinion by Judge Harlan. supported the Act 
under the Thirteenth Amendment, which he held established and 
decreed universal civil freedom throughout the United States. He 
also held that the Fourteenth Amendment gave Congress power to 
enforce an express prohibition upon the States. The rights which 
Congress by the Act of 1875 sought to secure were legal, not social, 
rights. 



Alabama 
1865 

Penal Code, 1865-1S66. Sections 61, 62. Any white person and any 
negro, or descendant of any negro to third generation, inclusive, 
though one ancestor of each generation was a white person, inter- 
marrying or committing adultery, or fornication, shall each be pun- 
ished by imprisonment not less than two years nor more than seven 
years. Penalty for issuing the license or performing the ceremony 
shall be a fine of from $100 to $1,000 or also imprisonment not more 
than six months. (See Criminal Code, 1852, Section 61.) 

Constitution, 1865, Article IV. Section 31. It shall be the duty of the 
general assembly at its next session, and from time to time there- 
at ter, to enact laws prohibiting the intermarriage of white with 
negro persons, or with persons of mixed blood, declaring such mar- 
riages null and void ab initio, and fixing penalties. 

Constitution, 1865, Article IV. Section 36. The general assembly 
shall enact such laws at its next session, and from time to time 
thereafter, as will protect the freedmen of the State, and guard them 
and theState against evils that may arise from their sudden emanci- 
pation. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 63 

Laws, 1865-1S66, p. 98. Witnesses. Negroes shall testify only in 
open court, and only when a freed man, free negro, or a mulatto is a 
party. 

1866 

Code, 1867, p. 64. All marriages between freed men and freed 
women, during slavery or after, solemnized by persons having or 
claiming authority, shall be valid if parties are still living together. 

1867 

Constitution, 1867, Article VII. Section 2. Removed the limitation 
of the vote to whites. 

Revised Code, 1867, Sections 3602 and 3603. If a white person and a 
negro, descended from negro ancestors to the third generation inclu- 
sive though one ancestor in each generation may have been white, 
shall intermarry, or live in adultery or fornication, they shall be pun- 
ished by confinement in the penitentiary at hard labor for not less 
than two years nor more than seven years. Knowingly issuing the 
license or performing the ceremony shall be punished by a fine from 
$100 to $1,000, or imprisonment for six months, or both. (See 
Code, 1852, Section 1946.) 

1868 

Laws, 1868, p. 148. It is not lawful to unite in one school colored 

and white children, unless by unanimous consent of parents and 

guardians. Trustees shall in all other cases provide separate 

schools. 

1872 

Burns v. State, 48 Alabama, p. 195, 1872. Sections 3602 and 3603 
of the Revised Code, prohibiting intermarriage of white persons and 
negroes, were held to be in contravention to the Civil Rights Bill of 
April 9, 1866, and repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment, 
Section 1. The Court held that marriage is a civil contract and the 
same right to make a contract as is enjoyed by white citizens, means 
the right to make any contract which a white citizen may make. 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 179. A free normal school for colored teachers estab- 
lished at Huntsville. 



64 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laws, 1 873, p. 176. Provided for a "State Normal School and 
University" for the Colored Race, for the education of colored 
teachers and students (at Marion), upon most approved plan, and in 
connection therewith a university department to provide for the 
liberal education of the colored race in the same manner as was 
already provided for the education of the white race in our univer- 
sities and colleges. 

1875 

Constitution, Article I. Sectio?i 38. There shall be no education or 

property qualification for suffrage or for office; nor any restraint 

upon the same on account of race, color, or previous condition of 

servitude, shall be made by law. 

Constitution, Article XIII. Section 1. Separate schools shall be 

provided for the children of citizens of African descent. 

1876 

Laws, 1876, p. 285. White and negro prisoners are not to be con- 
fined permanently together in the same apartments before convic- 
tion, if there are enough separate apartments. Misdemeanor, 
with a penalty of a fine not less than $50 nor more than $100. 

Laws, 1876, p. 98. Section 9. Poll Tax. Names of tax-payers of 
colored race are to be kept in separate books. Amounts paid by 
persons of colored race shall be devoted to maintenance of schools 
for the colored race. 

1877 

Green v. State. 58 Alabama 190 (1877). Overruling Burns v. State, 
1872. The law against white persons and negroes intermarrying 
was held to be a valid law. The Court held that marriage is not a 
mere contract, but a social or domestic institution. The law de- 
clared to be a punishable offense a marriage between a white person 
and a negro. And it no more tolerated it in one of the parties than 
in the other. There was no discrimination made in favor of the white 
person. 

1878 

Laws 1878, p. 136. Repeated separate school requirement of 1875 
Constitution. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 65 

1884-1885 

Laws 1884-1885, p. 192. It is unlawful for white convicts, whether 
state or county convicts, and colored convicts to be chained together, 
or to be allowed to sleep together, or to be confined in same room or 
apartment when not at work. 
Laws 1 884-1 88 '5, p. 349. Repeated separate school provision. 

1891 

Laws, 1891, p. 412. All railroads carrying passengers, other than 
street railways, shall provide equal but separate accommodations 
for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger 
cars for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger cars by 
partitions so as to secure separate accommodations. 

Section 2. The conductor is to assign each passenger to his place. 
If a passenger refuses to occupy it, he may refuse to carry such 
passenger on train, and is not liable for damages. But this section 
does not apply to white or colored passengers entering the state upon 
railroads under contract for transportation made in other states 
where like laws to this do not prevail. 

s Section 3. A person riding or attempting to ride in wrong place 
in railroad coach, is subject to a fine of $100. 

Section 4. All railroad companies neglecting to comply with the 
requirements of this act within sixty days, shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and fined not exceeding $500. Any conductor, etc., 
neglecting to carry out the provisions of the act, is guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and may be fined an amount not to exceed $100. 
(Code, 1907, Section 5487, Section 7684.) 

1896 

Code, 1896. Sections 3607-3608. Colored poll taxes shall go to 
the support of colored schools. 

Code, 1896. Section 3720. Alabama School for Negro Deaf and 
Blind established. 

1901 

Constitution, 1901, Article IV. Section 102. The legislature shall 
never pass any law to authorize or legalize any marriage between 
any white person and a negro, or descendant of a negro. 



66 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1901 

Constitution, 1901, Article XIV. Section 236. Separate schools 
shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of 
either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race. 

1907 

Code, 1907, I. Section 1757. Schools. Separate school requirement 

repeated. 

Code, 1907, I. Section 1858. Negro taxes are to be kept separate. 

Criminal Code, 1907. Section 7421. Any white person and any 
negro, or any descendant of any negro to the third generation 
inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation was a white person, 
if they intermarry or commit adultery or fornication, shall each be 
punished by imprisonment of not less than two years nor more 
than seven years. 

Any officer knowingly issuing a license for such marriage, or any 
person knowingly performing the ceremony of solemnizing such 
marriage, shall be fined not less than $100 and not more than $1,000 
and at the discretion of the Court may also be imprisoned in the 
County Jail or sentenced to hard labor for not more than six 
months. 

Code, 1907. Section 6221. (Law as to adultery or fornication be- 
tween two persons not of different race.) A man and woman living 
together in adultery or fornication for the first conviction, a penalty 
ot a tine of not less than Sioo, and they may also be imprisoned in 
the' county jail for not more than six months. Second offense with 
the same person, the penalty a fine of not less than $300, and they 
may be imprisoned in the county jail, or at hard labor for not more 
than twelve months. For the third or any subsequent conviction 
witli the same person they must be imprisoned in the penitentiary 
for two years. 

Political Code, 1907, p. 21S. Section 2. The term "negro" within the 
meaning of this Code, includes "mulatto." The term "mulatto" or 
"person ot color" includes persons of mixed blood descended on the 
pari ol the father or mother from negro ancestors, to the fifth 
generation inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may 
have been a white person. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 67 

The fifth generation was substituted for the third generation by 
the Code Committee of the 1907 Code. (Prior to tin's the third 
generation was the term used in the laws.) 

Criminal Code, 1907. Section 7684. Civil Code, 1907. Section 5488. 
Omits section 4 of Laws 1891, p. 412, containing the penalty for rail- 
roads and for conductors and officials neglecting to comply with the 
law. 

1911 

General Acts, 1911, p. 677. A Reform School for juvenile negroes 
shall be established, at Mt. Meiggs, with name "Alabama Reform 
School for Juvenile Negro Law-Breakers. " The school shall have 
nine trustees, of whom five may be negro women. The school shall 
be for boys under eighteen years of age, and shall provide a common 
school education, also training in agriculture and industries, and 
moral training. 

1915 

General Acts, 191 5, p. 284. Separate lists of white and negro children 

shall be kept in making school census. 

General Acts, 1915, p- 727. Section 1. It is unlawful to require any 
white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either 
public or private, in which negro men are placed. 

Section 2. It is unlawful for any white female nurse to nurse in 
wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro 
men are placed. 

Section 3. Penalty, a fine of $10 to $200, and there may also be 
added confinement in county jail, or hard labor for county not 
exceeding six months. 



Alaska 

1905 

33 Stat. L., p. 619. Schools shall be devoted to the education of 
white children and children of mixed blood who lead a civilized life. 
(Nothing shows whether Indians only, or also negroes, were 
meant to be included. The wording includes negroes also. Under 
this wording a mulatto could attend the schools, but a pure negro 



68 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

might apparently be shut out; which was no doubt not the inten- 
tion of the statute.) 

1907 

Code, 1907, Part V. Section 199. There shall be no discrimination 

against negroes in voting requirements. 



Arizona 
1865 

Laws, 1865, p. 58. Marriages of white persons with negroes, mu- 
lattoes, Indians, Mongolians, shall be illegal and void. (The word 
"descendants" is not in this law.) 

19OI 

Revised Statutes. Section 2227. All children between six and twenty- 
one years of age must be admitted to the public schools. 

Section 2231. No child shall be refused admission to any public 
school on account of race or color. (Original law.) 

Revised Statutes, 1901. Section 3092. All marriages of persons of 
Caucasian blood, or their descendants, with negroes, Mongolians, or 
Indians, or their descendants, shall be null and void. 

Section 3094. Such marriages shall be valid if valid by the laws of 
the place where contracted, except that residents cannot evade 
marriage law of this State by going into another State for the 
ceremony. 

1909 

Laws, 1909, p. iji, 172. The Trustees of school districts may segre- 
gate African pupils from white, when they deem it advisable, and 
may provide the necessary accommodations for such separation, 
but only when there are more than eight negro pupils in the school 
district. 

Law passed by the legislature over a veto by the governor. 

Arkansas 
1866 

L<iws, 1866, p. 98. Section 1. All colored persons shall have the 
righl to make and enforce contracts, to sue and to be sued, to be 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 69 

affiants, to give evidence, etc., that white persons have. They shall 
not be subjected to any other or different penalty than provided for 
white persons. All laws of the state shall be applicable without 
distinction of color, except as hereinafter provided. 

Section 2. Nothing shall be construed to repeal or modify any 
statute, common law, or usage of the state, respecting marriage of 
white persons with negroes or mulattoes, voting, service on juries, 
or militia duties. 

Section 3. All negroes cohabiting as husband and wife and recog- 
nizing each other as such, shall be deemed lawfully married. 

Section 4. All marriages between negroes shall be governed by 
the same laws as for whites. 

Section 5. No negro or mulatto shall be admitted to attend any 
public school except one exclusively for colored persons. 

1868 

Constitution, 1868, Article VIII. Section 2. Removed the limitation 

of the suffrage to whites. 

1873 

Laws, 1S73, p. 15-19. Civil Rights. Section 1. It shall be unlawful 
for any railway, steamboat, stage-coach, or any other conveyance, 
to refuse to provide any person with same accommodations as are 
furnished other persons upon tender of same sum of money actually 
paid for similar accommodations by any other person. 

Section 2. The violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine 
of from $200 to $1,000 or imprisonment of from three months to 
twelve months, or both. 

Section 3. It shall be unlawful for a manager of any public house 
of entertainment, inn, hotel or restaurant, to refuse to furnish the 
same meal, board, lodging, room or other accommodation as fur- 
nished other persons upon tender of same price actually paid by 
others. 

Section 4. Penalty; a misdemeanor with a fine of from $50 to 
$500. 

Sections. It is unlawful for any keeper of a licensed saloon, 
grocery, dram shop, or other place where liquors are sold by retail, 
to refuse to sell to any person on account of race or color, a drink 



jo State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

in the same manner, at the same place, and of the same quality as 
that sold to others for the same price. 

Section 6. Penalty; a misdemeanor with a fine of from $25 to 
5 1 00. 

Section 7. It is unlawful for any manager of a licensed place of 
public amusement to refuse to admit any person on account of race 
or color applying to be admitted to a full and free enjoyment of 
the same, or to refuse to provide the same accommodations given 
to others for the same payment. 

Hon S. Penalty; a misdemeanor with a fine of from $25 to $100. 

Section q. 1 1 is unlawful for any school officer of a school, supported 
in whole or in part by general taxation, to refuse to provide equal 
and like- accommodations and advantages for the education of each 
and every youth of school age. 

Section 10. Penalty; a misdemeanor with a fine of from Sioo to 
S500. 

Sectio?i 11. Aiding or abetting the violation of any of the pro- 
visions of the act is a misdemeanor. Penalty, a fine of from $50 
to S500. 

Section 12. Xo person carrying on any business mentioned 
before, nor any school officer, shall make any rule for the government 
or conduct of such business, school or institutions, affecting persons 
applying for accommodation, which shall not affect all alike without 
regard to race or color. 

Section 13. Penalty; in addition to the penalties of preceding 
sections, the person shall be liable for civil action for damages by 
the person aggrieved. 

Section 14. Prosecuting attorneys, sheriffs, coroners, justices of 
tin- peace and constables of this State are authorized and required 
to institute proceedings on behalf of State, when cognizant of a 
violation of this Act within their jurisdiction. 

Section 15. Any of the aforesaid officers, who are personally 
cognizant of such offense, or to whom complaints shall be made, 
who tail to prosecute, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor in office and 
lined <too to S500, and the costs of prosecution, or in default of 
payment, imprisoned for six months, or till the fine and costs are 
paid. ( Repealed, 1907.) 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 71 

Laws, 1873, p. 423. The Board of school directors shall establish 
separate schools for white and colored children and youths. It is 
their duty to provide equal school facilities for blacks and whites. 

1SS4 

Digest of Statutes, 1884. Section 4593. All marriages of white persons 
with negroes or mulattoes are declared illegal and void. (1838, 
Revised Statutes, p. 536.) 

1891 

Laws, 1891, March 4. Section 7. In precincts where more than 

100 votes were cast on the preceding election, where the electors 

consist of different races, the judges of election shall, when there 

are persons of both races present and reach- to vote, so conduct 

admittance to the voting place as to permit persons of white and 

colored races to cast their votes alternately. 

Laws, 1891, p. 15. Section 1. On all lines of railway less than 

twenty-five miles long the passenger coaches may be divided by 

partition. 

The officers of passenger trains and agents at depots have power 
to and may be required to assign passengers to the proper place or 
proper waiting room for each race. Any person insisting on going to 
the place set apart for another race, shall be fined not less than $10 
or more than $200. Any officer of any company wrongly assigning a 
passenger to such place shall be fined $25. The railway company 
may refuse to carry passengers who refuse to occupy the place to 
which they are assigned. The railway company shall have power to 
eject such a passenger from such improper place and shall not be 
liable for damages. 

Any railway company not complying with the provisions of this 
act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than 
$100 nor more than $500 and each day and each train shall be a 
separate offense. Any conductor, agent or other railway officer not 
carrying out the provisions of this act shall be fined not less than $25 
and not more than $50 for each offense. Railways, other than street 
railways, shall keep this law posted in a conspicuous place in each 
passenger coach and waiting room. An exception to the provisions 
of this act is allowed in the case of an officer with prisoners who may 
be assigned to the coach set aside for the prisoners' race. A person 



-2 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

with visible and distinct admixture of African blood shall be deemed 
for the purposes of this act to belong to the African race, all others 
to the white race. 

1893 

Acts, 1893, p. 200. All railway companies shall provide equal but 
separate accommodations for the white and colored races, by pro- 
viding two or more passenger cars for each train, or one car with a 
partition of wood. There shall also be provided separate waiting 
rooms equal and sufficient in accommodation at all passenger depots 
in the State. 

The foregoing provisions do not apply to street railways. If the 
passenger coach is disabled in the event of accident, the railway 
company shall be relieved from the operation of this act. 

No person shall occupy the seats in a coach or apartment or 
waiting room set apart for members of another race. An exception 
to this provision shall be made for officers in charge of prisoners of a 
different race, who may be assigned with their prisoners to coaches 
where they will least interfere with the comfort of other passengers. 
The provisions of the act shall not apply to employees of trains in 
discharge of their duties, nor to freight trains carrying passengers. 

Railway companies may haul sleeping or chair cars for the exclu- 
sive use of either the white or the African race separately, but not 
jointly. On all lines of railway less than thirty miles long, passenger 
coaches may be divided by a partition. 

1895 

Acts, 1895, April 19. Assessors, county clerks, and collectors, shall 
indicate on tax list whether a person assessed is of white or colored 
race. The collector shall indicate the amount of taxes paid respec- 
tively by persons of the white and of the colored race. 

1897 _ ' 

Acts, 1897, p. 70. The state superintendent of public instruc- 
tion is authorized to arrange for county normal institutes for white 
teachers, and such additional ones for the colored teachers at such 
places as may be selected by the superintendent. 

1903 

Acts, J 903, p. 178. All persons operating any street-car line in any 

city of the first class, are required to operate separate cars, or to 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 73 

separate white and colored passengers in cars for both, and to set 
apart in such car so operated for both, a portion to be occupied by 
white persons and a portion to be occupied by colored passengers. 

No discrimination in quality or convenience of accommodations 
for the two races shall be made. 

The conductor shall have the right to change designation, to 
decrease or increase space for either race, or may require any pas- 
senger to change his seat. 

All passengers are required to take the seats assigned. If they 
refuse they are guilty of a misdemeanor, the fine not to exceed $25. 

Any corporation failing to make such separation is guilty of a 
misdemeanor, the fine not to exceed $25. 

Nothing shall prevent running extra or special cars exclusively 
for either white or colored passengers, if regular cars are operated. 

Acts, 1903, p. 161. In the state penitentiary and in all county 
jails, stockades, convict camps, and all other places where state or 
county prisoners may at any time be kept confined, separate apart- 
ments shall be provided for white and negro prisoners, including 
separate bunks, beds, bedding, separate dining-tables and all other 
furnishings. Any such place, or such furnishing, after having been 
assigned, or used, by one race, it is unlawful to change to the use 
of the other. 

It is unlawful for a white prisoner to be handcuffed or chained or 
tied to a negro prisoner. 

Any prison officer violating the provisions of this act is guilty of a 
misdemeanor; the fine to be $50 to $200. 

1904 

Kirbys Digest, 1904. Section 5174. All marriages of white persons 
with negroes or mulattoes are illegal and void. 

Section 2640. The issue of all marriages deemed null in law shall 
be deemed legitimate. 

Kirby's Digest, 1904. Sections 7536 and 7613. The separate school 
provisions repeated. 

1907 

Laws, 1907, p. 728. That Chapter 19 of Kirby's Digest known as 
the "Civil Rights Bill" be, and the same is hereby repealed. (This 
repealed the Civil Rights Act of 1873 Laws, p. 15.) 



74 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

California 
1849 
Constitution, 184Q, II. Section 2. Voting limited to white men. 

1850 

Laws, 1850, p. 424. Section 1. All marriages of white persons with 
negroes or mulattoes are illegal and void. Contracting such mar- 
riage is punishable by a fine of from $100 to $1,000, imprisonment 
from three months to ten years, or both. (See Civil Code, 1871, 
par. 60.) 

Sections 2, 3. Any person knowingly solemnizing any marriage 
forbidden by law shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than 
? 1,000, or imprisoned not less than three months nor more than one 
year, or both. 

1854 

Laws, 1854, Chapter 54. Section 42. Negroes are forbidden to be 

witnesses in any case where a white person is a party. 

I 869-I 870 

Laws of 186Q-1870, p. 838-839. African and Indian children must 
attend separate schools. Upon written application of the parents or 
guardians of at least ten such children a separate school shall be 
established. A less number may be provided for in separate schools 
in any other manner. 

1880 

Laws, 1S80, p. 38. Children of any race or nationality, from six 
years to twenty-one years of age inclusive, residing in the district, 
shall be entitled to admission to the public schools. (Provision 
repealed the separate school law of 1 869-1 870.) 

1893 

Laws, 1893, p. 220. (Civil Rights Law.) It is unlawful to refuse 
admission to anyone over twenty-one years of age with a ticket of 
admission acquired by purchase, or with the price of admission, to 
.m opera house, theater, melodeon, museum, circus, caravan, race- 
course, fair, or any place of public amusement or entertainment, 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 75 

except that persons of bad character, etc., may be refused. The 
injured person may recover actual damages and $100 in addition. 

1897 

Laivs, 18Q7, p. 137. {Civil Rights law.) In the usual form, this law 
specially refers to "Inns, restaurants, hotels, eating houses, barber 
shops, bath-houses, theaters, skating rinks, and all other places of 
public accommodation or amusement." 

Violating the act or inciting or aiding its violation, rendered the 
offender liable in damages to not less than $50, recoverable in an 
action at law. (Civil Code, 1906, p. 29-30.) 

1901 

Statutes and Amendments, iqoo-iqoi, p. 333. The marriage law 
was amended, by adding "Mongolian." 

Statutes and Amendments, iqoo-iqoi, p. 334. Civil rights law of 
1897, p. 137, repeated in somewhat different wording, without real 
change, except that it omits "hotels" in the section concerning 
penalty, retaining it elsewhere. 

1905 

Statutes and Amendments, IQ05, p. 553. This statute re-enacted the 
civil rights law, with word "hotel" again inserted in penalty section. 



Colorado 

1861 

Ter. Laws, 1861, p. 25. Section 5. Voting restricted to free white men. 

1864 

General Laws, 1864, p. 108. {Original Law.) Marriage between 
negroes and mulattoes, and white persons, is absolutely void. It 
shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 and not more than 
$500, or confinement in prison for not less than three months nor 
more than two years, or both. (R. S. 1908, Section 4163, 5.) 

1876 

Constitution, 1876, Article IX. Section 8. Nor shall any distinction or 
classification of pupils in public schools be made on account of race 
or color. 



76 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1885 

Laws, 1885, p. 70. Section 17. In the census alphabetical list, the 

color shall be given. 

Laws, 1885, p. 132. (Civil Rights Act.) All persons regardless of 
race, color or previous condition of servitude are entitled to the 
full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations of inns, restau- 
rants, churches, barber shops, public conveyances, theaters, and 
other places of public resort or amusement. 

Violation of the foregoing provisions shall be punished by a fine 
of not more than S500, or confinement in the county jail not exceed- 
ing three months, or both. 

1895 

Laws, 1805, p. 139. {Civil Rights Act.) All persons are entitled to 
the full enjoyment of the accommodations and privileges of inns, 
restaurants, eating houses, barber shops, public conveyances on land 
or water, theaters and all other places of public accommodation and 
amusement, subject only to conditions applicable alike to all citizens. 
In case of violation of the foregoing provisions, except for reasons 
applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, and regardless 
of color or race, there shall be paid by the person so violating a 
forfeit of a sum not less than $50 and not more than $500 to the 
person aggrieved. Such violation shall also be a misdemeanor and 
subject to the penalty of a fine of not less than $10 and not more 
than $300, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. 
Judgment for one shall bar the other prosecution. 

1897 

Laws, 1897, p. 775. No person shall be denied the right to practise 

law on account of race or sex. 

1907 

Laws, 1907, p. 241. Section 7. Certificates of death shall give the 
race or color. 

Laws, 1907, p. 244. Section 14. Birth certificates shall give the 
color or race of the parents. 

1908 

Revised Statutes, 1908. Sections 4163, 4165. Marriage between 
negroes and mulattoes, and white persons, is prohibited. Such a 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 77 

marriage is absolutely void and is a misdemeanor punishable by 
imprisonment from three months to two years, or a fine of from $50 
to $500, or both. Issuing such a license is a misdemeanor, punish- 
able by a fine of $100. Performing the ceremony is punishable by a 
fine of $50 to $500, or three months to two years' imprisonment, 
or both. 



Connecticut 

1833 

Laws, 1833, Title 35. No person shall establish in this state any 
school for the instruction of colored persons not inhabitants of this 
state, without the consent in writing of the civil authority. A 
penalty is imposed of a $100 fine for the first offense, and double for 
every other offense. Nothing in the act shall refer to any district 
school established under the laws of the state. 

1838 

Laws, 1838, Title 34. Repealed the preceding law. 

1845 

Amendments, Article 8, Adopted October, 1845. Every white male 
citizen of the United States is an elector. 

1854 

General Statutes, 1854, p. 838. Exempted from taxation the personal 

and real estate of persons of color. 

1866 

General Statutes, 1866, p. 707. Same as 1854 law. Exempted from 

taxation personal and real property of persons of color. 

1875 

General Statutes, 1875, p. 154. Provision stricken out, regarding 

exemption from taxation, of 1854 and 1866. 

1876 

Amendments, Article 23, Adopted October, 1876. Article 8 of Amend- 
ments to the Constitution is amended by erasing the word "white" 
from the first line. 



78 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1879 

Public Acts, 1879, p. 377, Chapter 31. The commander-in-chief is 
authorized to organize four independent companies of infantry to 
be composed of colored men. Any existing company of the Wilkins 
battalion may be accepted as one such company when recruited to 
the minimum number. Such four companies shall not be attached 
to any existing regiment unless in case of war, rebellion or invasion, 
but may be organized into an independent battalion, at discretion of 
Adjutant-General. The Quartermaster General's duty is to provide 
such companies with armories, arms, and equipment, from any sup- 
plies he may have, upon the same terms and conditions as other 
companies of infantry are now provided, also with uniforms of the 
same quality as for other companies. Said four companies shall 
receive the same pay and allowances as other companies for one 
company parade in the Spring and one in the month of September 
in each year, also the same pay and allowances when ordered into 
service or ordered into encampment. 

1883 

Laws, 1883, Chapter 109, p. 289. Section 13. Negro Militia. 
Chapter 31 of the Public Acts of 1879 and all acts and parts of acts 
inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed, but this act shall not 
aftect the organization heretofore and now existing under the pro- 
visions of said Chapter 31, but the companies comprising the same 
shall belong to the battalion at large as herein provided. The 
forty companies of infantry shall be organized into four regiments, 
one for each congressional district — and one battalion at large. The 
battalion at large shall consist of not more than four companies 
and shall be commanded by a major. 

1884 

Lazvs, 1884, p. 366. (Offences v. the person.) Every person who sub- 
jects or causes to be subjected any other person to the deprivation 
"I any rights, privileges or immunities secured or protected by the 
Constitution or Laws of this State, or of the United States, on ac- 
count of alienage, color, or race, shall be fined not more than $1,000, 
or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 79 

1887 

Laws, 1887, p. 6qo. Section 1 . {Life Insurance.) No Life Insurance 
Company shall make any distinction or discrimination between whi it- 
persons and colored persons, wholly or partially of African descent, as 
to the premiums or rates charged for policies upon the lives of such 
persons, nor demand greater premiums from such colored persons, nor 
make any rebate, diminution or discount upon the sum to be paid 
in case of death of such colored person insured, nor insert in policy 
any condition nor make any stipulation whereby such person shall 
bind himself to accept any sum less than full value on account of 
such policy other than imposed upon white persons in similar cases, 
and every such stipulation or condition so made or inserted shall be 
void . 

Section 2. (Affidavit of Examining Physician.) If an application 
of a colored person for insurance upon his life is refused, the company 
shall furnish an affidavit of a regular examining physician of such 
company who has made the examination stating that the application 
has been refused, not because of color but solely on such grounds as 
would be applicable to white persons of the same age and sex. 

Section 3. (Penalty for discrimination in issuing policies.) Every 
corporation, or officer or agent, violating the preceding sections by 
demanding or receiving from colored persons any different or 
greater premium, or allowing discount or rebate on premiums paid 
or to be paid by white persons of the same age and sex, general 
condition of health and hope of longevity, or by making rebate or 
diminution upon sum to be paid upon policy in case of death, or by 
failing to furnish affidavit required by previous section, shall be 
fined not more than $100 (but this shall not affect contracts existing 
June 1, 1887). 

1889 

Laws, i88q, p. 74. (Discrimination in favor of individuals prohibited.) 
No Life Insurance Company shall make distinction or discrimination 
in favor of individuals between insurants of same class and expec- 
tation of life in amount of premiums or dividends or benefits, or 
in any other of the terms or conditions, nor shall any company, 
agent, broker or any other person, make any contract of insurance 
or agreement other than is plainly expressed in the policy issued 



80 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

thereon; nor shall any company or agent pay, allow or offer as 
inducement to insurance any rebate of premium or any special 
favor or any inducement whatever not specified in the policy of 
insurance. 

1905 

Public Acts, 1905, p. 323, Chapter III. Every person who deprives 
or causes to be deprived another of the full and equal enjoyment 
of the advantages, facilities, accommodations or privileges of any 
place of public accommodation, amusement or transportation, on 
account of alienage, race or color, or who on that account shall 
discriminate in the price for the enjoyment of such privileges, sub- 
ject only to the limitations established by law for all persons, shall 
forfeit to the person injured thereby double damages. 



Delaware 
1867 

Laws, 1866-1860, p- 161. The punishment for members of all 
races shall be the same, for the same offense. 

1873 

Laws, 1 871-1873, p. 686. Resolved; That the members of this 
General Assembly, for the people they represent, and for them- 
selves, jointly and individually, do hereby declare uncompromising 
opposition to a proposed act of Congress, introduced by Honorable 
Charles Sumner at the last session, and now on file in the Senate of 
the United States, known as the "Supplemental Civil Rights Bill," 
and all other measures intended or calculated to equalize or amalga- 
mate the negro race with the white race, politically or socially, and 
especially do they proclaim unceasing opposition to making negroes 
eligible to public offices, to sit on juries, and to their admission into 
public schools where white children attend, and to the admission on 
terms of equality with white people in the churches, public convey- 
ances, pi. ices of amusement, or hotels, and to any measure designed 
or having the effect to promote the equality of the negro with the 
white man in any of the relations of life, or which may possibly 
conduce to Mich result. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 81 

That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representa- 
tives requested, to vote against and use all honorable means to 
defeat the passage by Congress of the bill referred to in the fore- 
going resolution, known as the "Supplemental Civil Rights Bill," 
and all other measures of a kindred nature, and any and every 
attempt to make the negro the peer of the white man. 

I8 74 

Revised Statutes, 1874, p. 207. The schools shall be free to all the 

white children of a district. (Revised Statutes, 1852, p. 115.) 

Revised Statutes, 1874, p. 472. Marriage is unlawful between white 
persons and negroes. A fine of $100 is imposed upon the parties 
to such a marriage, and upon the preacher solemnizing it. (Revised 
Statutes, 1829, p. 400.) 

Revised Statutes, 1874, p. 485. A negro or mulatto child under fifteen, 
whom parents cannot maintain — or do not bring up to industry 
and suitable employment — may be bound as a servant till twenty- 
one years of age if a male, or eighteen years of age if a female. 
(White persons were bound as apprentices, not servants.) 

If he [such servant] run away or absent himself without leave he 
shall make full compensation for lost time and the expenses of 
recovering him. The Superior Court shall have power so to extend 
the term. 

If such female servant have a bastard child, she shall serve one 
year after expiration of the original term. 

If such servant marry without written consent, he shall be given 
six months' extended term. 

Idle and vagabond free negroes and free mulattoes may be com- 
pulsorily hired out to service. The constable may be ordered to hire 
out said negro or mulatto as a servant, at public auction for tin- 
residue of the current year. 

1875 

Laws, 1875-1877, Volume 15, p. 322. No keeper of an inn, tavern, 
hotel or restaurant, or other place of public entertainment or re- 
freshment of travellers, guests, or customers, shall be obliged by 
law to furnish entertainment or refreshment to persons whose recep- 
tion or entertainment by him would be offensive to the major part 



82 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 



of his customers and would injure his business. The term customers 
shall be taken to include all who have occasion for entertainment 
or refreshment. 

Section 2. The proprietor of a theater or other place of public 
amusement shall not be obliged to receive into his show or admit 
into the place where he is pursuing his occupation any persons whose 
reception or entertainment by him would be offensive to the major 
part of his customers and would injure his business. 

Section J. Carriers of passengers may assign a particular place 
in their cars, carriages or boats, to such of their customers as they 
may choose to place there, and whose presence elsewhere would be 
offensive to the major part of the travelling public, where their 
business is conducted. The quality of accommodation shall be 
equal for all, if the same price for carriage is required from all. 

1877 

Laws, 1877, p. 82. Imposed a separate tax on colored people for the 
benefit of colored schools. A separate fund was created, to be used 
by the Delaware association for the education of colored people. 

1883 

Laws, 1883, p. 81. Money collected from the colored people's school 
tax must be used for the education of colored children. The State 
Superintendent of Schools was given charge. 

I889 

Laws, i88q, p. 147. Act to encourage education of the colored 
people. Taxes property of colored persons for support of colored 
schools. 

Section 2. A separate fund for colored schools js provided. 

Section 3. $6,000 was appropriated annually. 

Section 4. The superintendents of Free Schools were given con- 
trol of the schools. 

Laws. 1889, pp. 651, 655, 65S, 660, 663. Incorporated colored schools 
were established, under boards of trustees elected by the school 
district. 



[89I 

Lows. t8qj, Chapter 66. Section 7. 
schools shall be furnished. 



Free text-books for colored 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 83 

Section 10. County superintendents shall have entire manage- 
ment and control of the colored schools of the state. 

Laws, 1891, Chapter 119, p. 334. A State College for Colored Stu- 
dents is provided, to instruct in agriculture, mechanical arts, English 
language, etc., with special reference to application to industries 
of life. Other scientific and classical studies may be taught, and 
a normal school may be connected. 

1893 

Code, 1893, p. 393. Section 1. Repeats intermarriage law of 1852. 
(Revised Statutes, 1852, p. 236.) 

Section 2. Negroes or mulattoes may be married without license 
or banns, provided they produce a certificate of a justice of the 
peace that they have made satisfactory proof of freedom; or being 
a servant — shall produce written consent of master. Performing 
ceremony without this — $20 fine. A free person marrying with a 
servant without consent must pay to master $30 if man and $15 if 
woman. 

Laws, i8qj, p. 693. Section 14. Incorporated colored schools are 
abolished, and they shall be subject to the same laws and under the 
supervision of the superintendent of schools for the county, in the 
same manner as is now provided for unincorporated colored schools. 

Section 13. Money appropriated for the support of colored schools 
shall be paid direct to the superintendents of schools to be by them 
expended for the support of the colored schools. 

Laws, 1893, Chapter 638. Any colored boy, under the age of twelve 
— who is an orphan or abandoned by his parents and uncared for— 
may be committed to "St. Joseph's Society for Colored Missions of 
Wilmington," during the term of his minority. 

1895 

Laws, 1893, p. 19. Various provisions to improve and promote 

colored schools. No change in privileges or restrictions. 

1897 

Laws, 189/, p. 431. Various provisions for colored schools. No 
change in privileges or restructions. 



<S4 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laws, i8q/, p. 433. Delaware Colored Teachers State Institute is 
established. 

1898 

Laws, i8q8, p. IQ3. Schools in districts for white schools shall be 
free for all white children of the district of six years of age and over, 
and similar provision is made for colored schools. It is provided that 
any district may establish a kindergarten, which shall or may be free 
for all the white or colored children (as the case may be), of the age 
of four years or over. 

1911 

Laws, 1911, p. 682. Marriage is unlawful between a white person 
and a negro or mulatto. 

Such marriage is void. It is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine 
of $100, or in default of payment, confinement in prison not exceed- 
ing thirty days is inflicted. 

Issuing a license, or solemnizing the marriage knowingly, is a mis- 
demeanor, punishable by a fine of $100, or in default of payment, 
imprisonment not exceeding thirty days. 

If the marriage was solemnized outside of the state, after which 
the parties live and cohabit within the state as husband and wife, it 
is a misdemeanor, with same penalty as if the marriage had occurred 
in the state. 

1913 

Laws, 1913, p. 239. A hospital for colored consumptives is author- 
ized, under the care of the Delaware State Tuberculosis Commission. 

Florida 
1865 

Laws, 1865, p. 24. It is a capital crime to assault a white female with 
intent to commit rape, or to be accessory thereto. 
Laws, 1865, p. 24. If any negro, mulatto, or other person of color 
shall intrude himself into any railroad car or other public vehicle 
set apart for the exclusive accommodation of white people, he shall 
In' .Itemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be 
sentenced t<> stand in the pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not 
« \t ceding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury, 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 85 

nor shall it be lawful for any white person to intrude himself into 
any railroad car or other public vehicle set apart for the exclusive 
accommodation of persons of color, under the same penalties. 

Laws, 1865, p. 30. A person of color is one who has as much as 
one-eight negro blood. 

Constitution, 1863, XIV. Section 2. Negroes are permitted to 
testify only in proceedings founded upon injury to a negro, or in 
cases affecting the rights and remedies of negroes. 

Laves, 1S65, pp. 35-36. A statute relative to testimony in general. It 
provided that the testimony of negroes should not be taken by 
deposition in writing or upon written interrogation, or "otherwise 
than in such manner as will enable the court or jury to judge the 
credibility of the witness." 

1866 

Laws, 1865, p. 31. Remarriage. All colored persons living togcther 
as husband and wife, who are not legally married, who wish to con- 
tinue living together, are required to be married within nine months 
from the date of the passage of the act. If they fail to be married, 
and continue to live together, punished as guilty of fornication and 
adultery. Their children legitimated by the marriage. 

After nine months from passage of act, all laws as to marriage be- 
tween white persons shall apply to colored population. 
Laws, 1866, p. 22. {Statute amended?) If persons of color live to- 
gether as husband and wife and recognize each other as such, they 
are considered married, and their children legitimate. 

1868 

Constitution, 1868, XIV. Section 1. Granted suffrage to negroes, 

removing the limitation to white persons. 

1873 

Laws, 1S/3, p. 25, Chapter 1947. {-Civil Rights Bill.) Prohibition 
of discrimination on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude, in the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodation-. 
etc., of inns, public conveyances on land and water, licensed thea- 
ters, other places of public amusement, common schools, public 
institutions of learning, cemeteries, and benevolent associations 



86 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

supported by general taxation. The prohibition does not apply to 
private schools or cemeteries established exclusively for white or 
for colored persons. Discrimination in any laws by the use of the 
word "white," is prohibited. 

I88l 

Digest Laws, 188 1, p. 753. Section 8. It is not lawful for any white 
person to intermarry with any negro person. Such marriage is 
null and void and the issue bastard. 

Issuing the license or performing the ceremony is punishable by 
a fine of $1,000 of which one-half shall be paid to the informer. 
(Laws, 1832, January 23.) 

1885 

Constitution, 1885, Article XII. Section 12. White and colored 
children shall not be taught in the same school, but impartial pro- 
vision shall be made for both. 

Constitution, 1885, Article XVI. Section 24. All marriages between a 
white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person 
of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby for- 
ever prohibited. 

1887 

Acts, 18S7, p. 116. Sections I and 2. Railroad companies shall sell 
to all respectable negro persons first-class tickets at the same rates 
as to white persons and shall furnish and set apart for negro persons 
a car in each train equally as good and provided with the same 
facilities for comfort as for white persons. No white person shall 
be permitted to ride in a negro car or to insult or annoy any negro 
in such car. No negro shall ride in a white person's car; but female 
colored nurses having care of children or of sick persons may ride 
in the white person's car. 

Section j. Any conductor or railroad company violating the pro- 
visions ot this act as to accommodations of white and colored per- 
sons, is liable to a fine not exceeding $500. 

Section 4. In case of a railroad company not complying with 
this act, punishment may be inflicted upon the president, receiver, 
general manager, or superintendent thereof, or upon each and every 
one of them. 






State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 87 

Constitution, 1887, Article XII. Section 12. White and colored 
children shall not be taught in the same school, but impartial pro- 
vision shall be made for both. 

1892 

Acts, 1SQ2, p. 26Q. A colored normal school established at Talla- 
hassee. 

1895 

Acts, 1895, p. 96. It shall be a penal offense for any individual 
or association to conduct any school, on any grade, either public 
or private, wherein white persons and negroes are instructed or 
boarded in the same building, or are taught in the same class, or 
at the same time by the same teachers. 

The violation of this act by either patronizing or teaching in 
such a school shall be punished by a fine not less than $150 and not 
more than $500, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less 
than three months and not more than six months. (General Stat- 
utes, 1906, Section 3810.) 

1897 

Acts, 1897, Chapter 4165. Section 3. Florida Industrial School for 
Boys. (Reform School.) It shall have two separate buildings, not 
nearer than one-quarter mile, one for white and one for negro boys. 
White and negro convicts shall not in any manner be associated 
together or worked together. 

1899 

Acts, iSqq, Chapter 4749, p. 133. Section 1. Where persons of 
African blood have prior to January 1, 1866, cohabited and lived 
together as husband and wife, and prior to said date, recognized 
each other before world and were recognized as husband and wife, 
they are deemed such so long as such relationship existed between 
them, and their children are legitimate. 

1903 

Acts, 1903, Chapter 5, 140, p. 76. Section 1. Intermarriage with a 

negro, mulatto, or any person with one-eighth negro blood shall be 



88 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

punished by imprisonment not exceeding ten years or fine not 
exceeding Si,ooo. Such marriage is utterly null and void. 

A county judge knowingly issuing a license shall be punished by 
imprisonment not exceeding two years, or a fine not exceeding 
$1,000. 

Performing such a ceremony shall be punished by imprisonment 
not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding $1,000. 

The living in adultery or fornication of a white person and a negro 
or mulatto, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding 
twelve months or a fine not exceeding $1,000. 

Any negro man and white woman (or the reverse), not married 
to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the night 
time the same room, no other person over fifteen years of age being 
present, shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding 
twelve months or a fine not exceeding $500. (See General Statutes, 
1906, Section 3529, etc.) 

Acts, 1903, Chapter 5202. Section 22. In no case shall any colored 
officer command white troops. 

1 905 

Acts, 1905, Chapter S447- Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any 
officer to chain white female or male prisoners to colored prisoners 
in their charge. Violation shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a 
fine not exceeding $100, or confinement in the county jail not ex- 
ceeding six months, or both. 

Acts, 1905, p. 99. Separation of races is required on all street rail- 
ways. The company must provide either separate cars, or divisions 
within the car. Exception is made of colored nurses in attendance 
upon white children or white sick persons. Failure to enforce such 
separation on part of company shall be punished by a fine of $50 
for each offense. A passenger occupying wrong division shall be 
punished by fine of $25 or by imprisonment of twenty days. 
39 Southern, 398, at p. 400. (50 Florida, 127.) The court declared 
the above exception (in Laws, 1905, p. 99) contrary to the Four- 
teenth Amendment, as giving a Caucasian mistress right to have her 
child attended in the Caucasian department of the car by its 
African nurse, and withholding from an African mistress the equal 
right to have her child attended in the African department by its 
Caucasian nurse. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 89 

1907 

Acts, 1907, Chapter 5617. Section 1. Urban and suburban (or 
either) electric cars as common carriers of passengers shall furnish 
equal but separate accommodations for white and negro passengers. 

Section 2. Separate cars, fixed divisions, movable screens, or 
other methods of division in cars, shall be provided. 

Section 3. Urban and suburban electric cars. The failure to 
provide such separation is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of 
from $50 to $500, which may be enforced against the president, 
receiver, general manager, superintendent, or other person operat- 
ing such cars. 

Section 4. Each day of such refusal, failure, or neglect is a sepa- 
rate and distinct offense. 

Section 5. Any conductor, etc., failing to enforce such separation 
is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $25, 
or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding sixty days, or 
both. 

Section 6. Any passenger wilfully occupying the place of other 
race, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding 
$50, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three 
months, or both. The conductor is vested with full power and 
authority to arrest such a passenger and to eject him from the car. 

Section 7. Plain letters in conspicuous place, "For White," "For 
Colored." 

Section 8. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to apply to 
nurses of one race attending children or invalids of the other race. 

Section 9. This shall not prevent running of special or extra cars, 
in addition to regular schedule cars, for the exclusive accommoda- 
tion of either white or negro passengers. 

Acts, 1907, Chapter 5619. Section 1. Separate waiting rooms and 
ticket windows must be provided for white and colored persons at 
all depots. 

Section 2. The railroad commissioners of the State of Florida are 
authorized to require the building or the alteration of all depots so 
as to secure separation of white and colored passengers. 

Section J. Any railroad company refusing to comply with the 
provisions of act or the regulations of the railroad commissioners, 
are liable to a fine not exceeding $5,000, to be imposed by the 
railroad commissioners. 



90 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1909 

Acts, IQOQ, p. 171. The county commissioners of the respective 
counties are required, within twelve months from the passage of this 
act, so to arrange the jails that it shall be unnecessary to confine in 
the same room, cell, or apartment, white and negro prisoners, or 
male or female prisoners. As soon as the jails are so arranged that 
this section may be complied with, it shall be unlawful for white and 
negro, or male and female, prisoners to be confined in the county 
jails in same cell, room or apartment, or so confined as to be per- 
mitted to commingle together. The county commissioners are 
authorized to appropriate from the general revenue fund of the 
county such money as is necessary. Any board of county com- 
missioners and any sheriff wilfully refusing to comply with the 
provisions of this act shall be removed from office by the Governor. 

Acts, iqoq, Chapter 58Q3. Section 1. Separate accommodations 
required. Passengers on railroads are required to occupy the respec- 
tive cars or divisions of cars for their race. No railroad shall use 
divided cars for separate races without the permission of the railroad 
commission, nor any car in which the divisions are not permanent. 

Section 2. The railroad commissioners of the State of Florida are 
given power and authority to prescribe reasonable rules and regu- 
lations relating to the separation of white and colored passengers 
in passenger cars operated by any common carrier. 

Section 3. If any common carrier violate any of the provisions 
of this act, or any regulation of the railroad commissioners, a fine 
not exceeding $500 may be imposed by the railroad commissioners. 

Section 4. A passenger occupying a place set apart for the other 
race, may be fined not exceeding $500 or confined not exceeding six 
months. An exception is made of persons lawfully in charge of or 
under charge of persons of other race. 

1913 

Acts, IQ13, p. 311. From the time of the passage of this act, it shall 
be unlawful in this state, for white teachers to teach negroes in 
negro schools, and for negro teachers to teach in white schools. 
Violation shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500, or by 
imprisonment in county jail not to exceed six months. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 91 

Georgia 
1865-1866 

Acts, 1865-1866, p. 239. All negroes, mulattoes, mestizos, and their 
descendants, having one-eighth negro or African blood, shall be 
known as persons of color. 

Acts, 1865-1866, p. 239. Colored persons living together on March 
9, 1866, as husband and wife, shall be regarded as such. If any man 
or woman lived with more than one husband or wife, he shall choose 
one of them, and the ceremony of marriage shall be performed 
between these two. If he fail to choose, he or she shall be guilty of 
fornication or adultery. 

Every colored child born before March 9, 1866, is a legitimate 
child of his mother, but only a legitimate child of his colored father 
when born within what was regarded as wedlock. 
Acts, 1865-1866, p. 241. Any officer issuing a marriage license to 
parties, either of whom is of African descent and the other a white 
person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not less than $200 
nor more than $500, or confined in the common jail three months, or 
both. 

Any officer, or minister of the Gospel, marrying such persons 
together, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined not less than 
$500 nor more than $1,000, or confined in the common jail for six 
months, or both. (See Code, 1861, Section 1664.) (Nothing as to 
intermarriage appears to be contained in the codes of 1821, 1837, or 
1859. But see Acts, 1859, p. 54.) 

1865 

Constitution, 1865, Article II. Section 5, Paragraph 4. It shall be 
the duty of the General Assembly to prescribe when testimony of 
negroes shall be admitted in courts. 

Constitution, 1863, Article II. Section 5. Paragraph 5. The Gen- 
eral Assembly at its next session shall pass a law legalizing existing 
slave marriages, and arranging for future marriages, and regulating 
the right of negroes to devise and inherit property. 

1866 

Acts, 1866, p. 59. Any free white citizen shall be entitled to instruc- 
tion in schools free of charge. 



9 2 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Acts, 1866, p. 156. Ordained colored ministers may celebrate mar- 
riage for persons of African descent only, under same regulations as 
required for white citizens. 

1868 

Constitution, 1868, Article II. Section 2. Removed the limitation 
of the suffrage to whites only. 

1870 

Acts, 1870, p. 427, 428. Railroads are required to furnish equal 
accommodations to all, without regard to race, color or previous 
condition of servitude. Any railroad violating this requirement may 
Ik- sued and the person wronged recover such sum as the court thinks 
proper, not to exceed $10,000. 

1872 

Laws, 1872, p. 69. It shall be the duty of the Board of Education 
to make arrangements for the instruction of the children of white 
and negro races in separate schools. As far as practicable they 
shall provide the same facilities for both races in respect to attain- 
ments and abilities of teachers and the length of term time; but the 
children of the white and colored races shall not be taught together 
in any public school of this state. Schools admitting both races 
shall receive none of the public school fund. 

1874 

Laws, 1874, p. 109. Section 1116. Returns shall be made to the 
comptroller-general of the state of all taxes paid by colored tax- 
payers. He shall show these in his annual report. 

1877 

Constitution, Article 8. Section 1. The schools shall be free to all 
children of the state, but separate schools shall be provided for the 
white and colored races. 

1885 

Laws, 1S85, p. 399. Asylums are to have separate apartments for 
insane negroes. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 93 

1 891 

Laws, i8qo-i8qi, p. 137. All railroads shall furnish equal accommo- 
dations, in separate cars or compartments of cars, for while and for 
colored passengers, but this section shall not apply to sleeping-cars. 

Railroad companies shall furnish comfortable seats, and have 
cars well and sufficiently lighted and ventilated. Violation a 
misdemeanor. 

Conductors must assign passengers to their place; and all con- 
ductors of dummy, electric and street cars are required \<> assign pas- 
sengers to seats, so as to separate the white and colored races as 
much as practicable; and all conductors, etc., are invested with 
police pow r ers to carry out these provisions. 

If the passenger remains in the wrong place it is a misdemeanor. 
The conductor is given right to eject him. 

Where the car is divided into compartments, the space shall be 
proportioned to the usual and ordinary travel. 

Employees shall not allow white and colored passengers to occupy 
the same compartment. Violation by an employee is a misdemeanor. 

This does not apply to nurses or servants in attendance upon 
employers. 

Laws, i8qo-i8qi, p. 213. No person controlling convicts shall con- 
fine white and colored convicts together, or work them chained to- 
gether, or chain them going to and from their work or at any other 
time. Violating this provision by any person or any member of a 
firm is a misdemeanor. 

The Prison Commission, where practicable, shall employ while 
persons and negroes in separate institutions and locations, and they 
shall be provided with separate eating and sleeping apartments. 

1893 

Laws, iSqj, p. 121. Inmates of reformatories shall be separated 
according to color. 

1894 

Laws, 18Q4, p. 31. The names of colored and of white tax-payers 
shall be made out separately on the tax digest. 



94 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1895 

Code, 1895. Section 1378. Colored and white children shall not 
attend the same school. Xo teacher receiving or teaching white 
and colored pupils in the same school shall be allowed any com- 
pensation out of the common school fund. 

1897 

Laws, 1897, p. 70. Section 679. Upon the penal farm, the com- 
mission shall provide for keeping separate and apart the white and 
colored convicts when not at work, and when at work as far as 
practicable. 

1899 

Laws, 1899, p. 66. Sleeping-car companies and railroad companies 
shall have the right to assign all passengers to seats and berths, and 
shall separate white and colored passengers in sleeping-cars in mak- 
ing assignments. They shall not permit white and colored pas- 
sengers to occupy the same compartment. 

Passenger remaining in other compartment than assigned is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 

This act shall not be construed to compel such companies to 
carry persons of color in sleeping-cars or parlor cars. 

The act shall not apply to colored nurses or servants, traveling 
with employers. 

Conductors and employees shall have police powers to enforce 
the provisions of the act. Refusing or failing to eject a passenger 
who is violating the provisions of the act, is a misdemeanor. 

1905 

Laws, 1905, p. 117. Any person may grant to any municipal cor- 
poration lands for a park, and in said conveyance provide that the 
use of said park shall be limited to the white race only, or to white 
women and children only, or to the colored race, etc., or to any 
other race, or women and children of any other race only. 

Any municipal corporation may accept such a gift for the exclu- 
sive use of the class named. 

Laws, 1905, p. 166. Abolished colored troops of the state, active 
and retired, and discharged men and officers from the military ser- 
vice of state. 



Stale Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 95 

1912 

Laws, 1912, pp. 162, 171. {Ann. Code, 1914, Section 1525 m.) The 
board of education shall provide separate schools for the white and 
colored races, to extend on an equitable basis the benefits of the 
law to white and colored children, due regard being had to differ- 
ences in population. 

1914 

Annotated Code, 1914. Section 6581. The General Assembly may 
make appropriations of money to any college or university (not 
exceeding one in number), now established or hereafter to be estab- 
lished, in this state, for the education of persons of color. 

Annotated Code, 191 4. Section 1596. Insane negroes shall be 

separated in a class by themselves, in the Georgia State Sanitarium. 

Section 1611. Apartments must be provided for insane negroes. 



Idaho 

1867 

Laws, 1866-1867, p. /I. Section j. All marriages of white persons 
with negroes, mulattoes, Indians, or Chinese, are illegal and void. 

Section 4. Such marriages, and the solemnizing of them, consti- 
tute a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of from $100 to $1,000, or 
imprisonment from three months to ten years. 

1887 

Revised Statutes. Section 2425. Intermarriage. Same provision 

as Laws, 1 866-1 867, p. 71, Section 3. 

1889 

Constitution, 1889, Article IX. Section 6. No distinction or classi- 
fication of pupils in schools shall be made on account of race or color. 

1908 

Revised Code, 1908, I. Section 2616. Intermarriage is prohibited 
between negroes and white persons and is illegal and void. A mar- 
riage valid where consummated outside this state is valid in Idaho. 



96 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Illinois 

1819 

Laws, i8iq, p. 334. Negroes coming into the state to settle must 
have a certificate of freedom and must register at the clerk's office. 
Resident negroes also were required to register. 

1827 

Laws, 182/, February 2. Section 3. A negro or mulatto shall not 
be a witness in court against a white person. A person with one- 
quarter part negro blood is a mulatto. (Revised Statutes, 1845, 
P- I54-) 

1848 

Constitution, 1848, Article VI. Section 1. Voting is limited to white 
males. 

1853 

Public Laws, 1853, p. 3/. It is a misdemeanor for a negro to come 
into the state with intention of residing. Such negroes shall be 
prosecuted and fined, or sold for a time to pay the fine. 

1865 

Public Laws, 1865, p. 103. Repealed act making it a misdemeanor 
for a negro to come into the state to reside. 

1874 

Laws, 18J4, approved, March 24. (1S74, Revised Statutes, p. 

983.) 

Article XVI. Section 4. All boards of education, etc., are prohibited 
from excluding from the public schools, directly or indirectly, any 
child on account of the color of such child. 

Any school officer, who shall exclude, or aid in excluding from the 
public schools, on account of color, any child who is entitled to the 
benefits of such school, shall be fined, upon conviction, not less 
than $5 nor more than $100. 

Any person who shall by threats, menace, or intimidation, pre- 
vent any colored child entitled to attend a public school, from 
attending such school, may be fined not exceeding $25. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 97 

1885 

Laws, 1885, p. 64. {Civil Rights Act.) All persons shall be entitli d 
to the equal privileges of inns, restaurants, eating-houses, barber- 
shops, public conveyances on land or water, theaters and all other 
places of public accommodation and amusement, subject only to 
conditions applicable alike to all citizens. 

Any person violating this act by denying the provisions thereof, 
or of inciting another to such denial, shall forfeit and pay not li 
than $25 nor more than $500 to the person aggrieved; and shall 
also be guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of not more 
than $500, or imprisonment not more than one year, or both. Judg- 
ment in favor of the party aggrieved or punishment following upon 
an indictment, shall be a bar to either prosecution respectively. 

1891 

Laws, i8qi, p. 85. The Civil Rights Law of 1885 was amended by 
adding the following. Justices of the Peace in the county wherein 
an offense shall be committed shall have jurisdiction in all civil 
cases, etc. 

On appeal, the Appellate Court shall have jurisdiction to render 
judgment for a sum exceeding the jurisdiction of a Justice of the 
Peace. 

Laws, i8qi, p. 163. Marriages where one or both of parties were 
slaves at the time, are valid, and the children are legitimate, and 
placed on same footing as to right to inherit property as children of 
other marriages. Provisions of act extend to such marriages en- 
tered into without the state, as far as property within state is 
concerned. 

1896 

Statutes, i8q6, p. 3730. Section 2Q2. School officers are prohibited 
from excluding children from the public schools directly or indirectly 
on account of color. Penalty, $5 to $100 fine. 

1897 

Laws, i8q~, p. 137. Section 1 of the Civil Rights Law of 1885 was 
amended, adding, hotels, soda-fountains, saloons, bathroom.-, 
theaters, skating-rinks, concerts, cafes, bicycle-rinks, elevators, 



98 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

ice-cream parlors or rooms, railroads, omnibusses, stages, street- 
cars, boats. 

1903 

Laws, iqoj, p. 158. Civil Rights Law of 1885 extended to include 
funeral hearses. (The title and enacting clause were irregular.) 
Section 1 was amended to read as follows. Inns, restaurants, eat- 
ing houses, hotels, soda-fountains, saloons, barber shops, bath- 
rooms, theaters, skating-rinks, concerts, cafes, bicycle-rinks, eleva- 
tors, ice-cream parlors or rooms, railroads, omnibusses, stages, 
street cars, boats, funeral hearses, public conveyances on land and 
wdter, and all other places of public accommodation and amuse- 
ment, subject only to conditions applicable alike to all citizens. 

191 1 

Laws, iqii, p. 288. Amendment to Civil Rights Law of 1885 as 
subsequently amended, by adding thereto the following. Nor shall 
there be any discrimination on account of race or color in the price 
to be charged and paid for lots or graves in any cemetery or place 
for burying the dead, but the price shall be applicable alike to all 
citizens of every race and color. 

I9L5 

Laws, 191 5, p. 96. Appropriated $25,000 for an exhibition and 
celebration to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the emanci- 
pation of the Xegro. Created a commission to conduct the same. 



Indiana 

1843 

Revised Statutes, p. 314. Public schools. The law provided for a 

tax levy for support of schools, but omitted "all negroes and mulat- 

toes" from the tax list. See court interpretation in 1850. 

Revised Statutes, 1843, p. yi8. Section 251. Evidence of Indians 

and negroes is prohibited, except where negroes or Indians only 

are parties. 

Revised Statutes, 1843, p. 59$. No white person shall marry any 
negro or mulatto. (1843 Laws, p. 970.) No white person and 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 99 

person of one-eighth or more negro blood shall intermarry. Penalty, 
hard labor in state prison from one year to ten years, and a fine 
from $1,000 to $5,000. 

1850 

2 Indiana, p. 332. {1850.) The court held negro children could 
not be received in schools even if paying their own tuition, if white 
parents objected. 

Constitution, 1S51, Article II. Section 2. Voting was limited to 
white males. 

Constitution, 185 1, Article XIII. Prohibits any free negro or 
mulatto from coming into state; and persons who employ or en- 
courage them to remain in the state are fined $10 to $500. The 
fines shall go to a fund for the colonization of negroes. 

I86l 

Acts, 1861, p. 153. Lands to be conveyed. No person except a 
citizen of United States, or an alien at the time a bona fide resident 
of the United States, an Indian, a Negro, or a Mulatto, or other 
person of mixed blood — shall convey land except in such cases as 
are provided for by law. 

1862 

Revised Statutes, 1862, p. 166. Same as 1843, Revised Statutes, p. 

718, on evidence. 

Revised Statutes, 1862, p. 42Q. Intermarriage law of 1843 repeated. 
(Revised Statutes, 1852, p. 361.) 

1863 

Laws, 1863. No Colonization Act for Negroes appears in the 1863 

statutes, though referred to as follows in Laws, 1865, p. 63. 

1865 

Laws, 1865, p. 63. Whereas the colonization agent appointed (for 
the colonization of free negroes) is drawing an annual salary without 
rendering any adequate service to the state, the Act of 1863 for 
Colonization of Negroes is repealed. 



ioo State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laics. 165, p. 162. All persons shall be competent as witnesses 
without distinction as to color or blood, but no negro or mulatto who 
has come or shall thereafter come into the state contrary to Thir- 
teenth Article of the Constitution prohibiting immigration of free 
negroes shall be competent as a witness where a white person is a 
p irtv in interest in a case, while said article continues in force. When 
the negro excluded is a party in a case, his opponent shall also be 
excluded. 

1866 

26 Indiana, 2QQ. (1866.) Preceding statute held against Federal 
Constitution, on ground that the negro had become a citizen, and as 
such was entitled to migrate from one state to another. 

1867 

Laws, 1867, p. 22$. Every competent person is allowed to testify. 

1869 

Laics, i86q, p. 41. School trustees shall organize colored children 
into separate schools having all the rights and privileges of other 
schools. If there is not a sufficient number within attending dis- 
tance, several districts may be consolidated. If there is not a 
sufficient number thus to be consolidated, the trustees shall pro- 
vide other means of education for said children or shall use their 
proportion of school revenue to the best advantage. 

C877 

Acts, 1 V7- P- I2 4- Section 6581. School trustees of any township, 
town, or city may organize the colored children into separate 
schools, having all the rights, privileges and advantages of other 
schools, Provided 1l1.it in case there may not be provided separate 
schools lor the colored children, then they shall be allowed to 
attend the public schools with the white children; Provided further 
that when any child in a colored school shall make sufficient ad- 
vancement to be in a higher grade than afforded by colored schools, 
as shown by examination or certificate, he shall be entitled to enter 
.1 school for white children of like grade, and no distinction shall 
therein be mule «,n account of race or color of such colored child. 



Slate Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 101 

1879 

Laws, 18/Q, p. 228. Section 4335. Distinction prohibited. In ad- 
ministering the charity of any association (for the care of orphans I 
no distinction shall be made in selecting the objects of its care 
on the account of the nativity of such orphans, and associations 
formed for the purpose of maintaining an asylum for colored orphan 
children, exclusively, shall be entitled to the allowance provided 
in this act for each colored orphan child cared for (an allowance of 
so much per day for any orphan cared for). 

1885 

Acts, 1885, p. 76. (190S, Burns Annotated Statutes, Section 3863.) 
All persons shall be entitled to the full enjoyment of the accommo- 
dation of inns, restaurants, eating-houses, barber-shops, public 
conveyances on land and water, theaters, and all places of public 
accommodation and amusement, subject only to conditions applica- 
ble alike to all citizens. Any one violating this act or inciting 
such violation shall forfeit and pay to the person aggrieved a sum 
not to exceed $100; also he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and 
subject to a fine not to exceed $100 or imprisonment not more than 
thirty days or both. 

No citizen possessing other qualifications shall be disqualified to 
serve as grand or petit juror in any court on account of race or 
color. Any officer excluding or failing to summon any citizen for 
cause aforesaid is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not 
more than $100, or imprisoned for not more than thirty days, or 
both. 

1908 

Annotated Statutes, 190S. Sections 2641-2642 and 8367. Intermarriage 
is prohibited between white persons and persons having one-eighth 
or more negro blood. Counselling or assisting such intermarriage 
is subject to a fine of from Sioo to Si, 000. Such intermarriage 
knowingly, if the white person knows the other is of negro 
or mixed blood, is subject to fine of not less than $100 nor more 
than $1,000, or imprisonment in state prison not less than one nor 
more than ten years. The marriage is void. 



102 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1909 

Acts, iooq, p. 31$. The Adjutant General shall provide for the or- 
ganization, maintenance and discipline of a battalion of colored 
infantry of the Indiana National Guard in accordance with the 
provisions of the law for the organization, maintenance and disci- 
pline of the Indiana National Guard. 



Iowa 

1838-1839 

Laws, 1838-1830, p. 6$. Certificates of freedom are required of 
blacks coming to reside in the state, with a bond and security. 

I 839-I 840 

Laws, 1830-1840, Chapter 2$. Section 13. The marriage of white per- 
sons with negroes and mulattoes is illegal and void. (Does not 
appear in laws again. Omitted in Code of 185 1 .) 

1846 

Constitution, 1846, Article II. Section I. Voting is limited to white 
males. 

Laws, 1846, Chapter 00. Section 66. The schools shall be open and 
free to .ill white persons. 

I 848 

Laws, 1848, Chapter So. Section 5/. White persons only are recog- 
nized in the school li^t. 

1851 

Code, 1851. Section 1160. • All property of blacks and mulattoes is 
exempt from taxation for school purposes. 

Laws, 1851, p. IJ2. Free negroes or mulattoes w^ere riot to settle in 
state. They must be notified to leave by township and county 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 103 

officers in three days. If they did not leave, they were subject to 
arrest, fine of $2 for each clay of staying after notice, and costs. They 
must be confined in jail till line was paid and they consented to leave. 
Free negroes in the state were to remain. 

1857 

Constitution, 1857, Article I. Section 1. All men have certain inalien- 
able rights such as enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring 
property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. (Held 
that this forbids discrimination by a common carrier against a pas- 
senger on account of color. Coger v. Northwestern U. Packet Co. 
(1873)- 37 Iowa, 145-) 

Constitution, 1857, Article IX. Section 12. The board of education 
shall provide for the education of all the youths of the state, through 
a system of common schools. 

Constitution, 1857, Article II. Section 1. Voting is limited to white 
males. 

1858 

Laws, 1858, Chapter 52. Section 30, Sub-division 4. Colored youths 
must be in separate schools, except in districts with unanimous con- 
sent of persons sending children to school in the district. (Held 
unconstitutional, 1858, in The District v. City of Dubuque, 7 Iowa, 
262, which held that the expression "all youths," in Constitution, 
1857, Article 9, Section 12, prohibited any distinction being made 
between white and colored children.) 

1864 

Laws, 1864, p. 6. Repeal of law of 185 1 prohibiting immigration of 

free negroes. 

1868 

Laws, 1868, p. 2Q0. The word "white" was stricken from Constitution 

by legislature. Submitted to popular vote and ratified. 

1870 

Laws, 1870, p. 21. The right to practice law was extended to women 

and members of all races. 



104 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1884 

Laws, 1884, [>. 107. {Civil Rights Law.) All persons are entitled to 
the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations and privileges 
of inns, public conveyances, barber-shops, theaters and other 
places of amusement. Violating the provisions of the act, or inciting 
others to such violation renders the offender guilty of a misde- 
meanor. 

1892 

Laws, 18Q2, p. 68. Civil Rights Law amended, by adding "Inns, 
restaurants, chop-houses, eating-houses, lunch-counters, and all 
other places where refreshments are served, and bath-houses." 

After such amendment the act read, "Inns, restaurants, chop- 
houses, eating-houses, lunch-counters, and all other places where 
refreshments are served, public conveyances, barber-shops, bath- 
houses, theaters, and all other places of public amusement. Viola- 
tion is a misdemeanor." (Code, 1897, Section 5008, p. 1956.) 



Kansas 

1855 

Constitution, 1855, Article II. Section 2. Suffrage extended to white 
persons and to civilized Indians (Negroes not included). Topeka 
Constitution. 

Laws, 18$ 5, Chapter 108, p. 414. First Territorial Legislature. Mar- 
riage between white persons and negroes or mulattoes is forbidden 
and is illegal and void. 

1859 

Laws, i8jQ, Chapter qj. Repealed law of 1855, Chapter 108, p. 414, 

forbidding intermarriage. 

1862 

Comp. Laws, 1862, Chapter 46, Article IV. Section 18 (Original). 
Cities of not less than 7,000. All taxes for school purposes from 
black or mulatto persons shall be used for the benefit of the children 
of such persons, in schools separate and apart from schools author- 
ized for the children of white persons. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 105 

1868 

General Statutes, 1S6S, Chapter 18, Article 5. Section 75. Boards 
of education of cities of the first class (over 150,000) are given 
"power to organize and maintain separate schools for the education 
of white and of colored children." 

1874 

Laws, 1874, p. 82. {General Statutes, 1909, Section 2916.) If any 
trustees, etc., of any state university, college, or other school of 
public instruction, or those in charge of any inn, hotel or boarding- 
house, or any place of entertainment or amusement for which a 
license is required by any of the municipal authorities of this state, 
or those in charge of any steamboat, railroad, stagecoach, omnibus, 
street car, or any other means of public carriage for persons or 
freight shall make any distinction on account of race, color, or 
previous condition of servitude, it shall be a misdemeanor, punish- 
able by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $1,000, and the 
offender shall also be liable in damages to the person injured thereby. 
All fines collected by virtue of this act shall be paid over to 
the public school fund of the county in which the offense is com- 
mitted. 

1876 

Laws, 1876, p. 238. Revision of School Law. Omitted the provi- 
sion of Laws, 1868, Chapter 18, Article 5, Section 75, as to Boards 
of Education. 

Laws, 1876, p. 269. Section 29. Cities of the second class shall 
have free schools, free to all children. 

1879 

Laws, 1879, p. 163, Chapter 1. Amendment to School, Law. Cities 
of first class may separate races in schools, except in the high school, 
where no discrimination shall be made on account of color. 

1889 

Laws, 1889, p. 329. Public schools in the City of Wichita, a city of 
the first class. Section 4. No discrimination in the high school shall 
be made on account of race or color. 



106 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1905 

Laws, 1905, Chapter 414. Section I. Schools in Kansas City, 
Kansas, may organize and maintain separate schools for education 
of white and colored children, including high schools; but no dis- 
crimination on account of color shall be made in high schools, ex- 
cept as provided herein. 



Kentucky 
1852 
Laws, 1852, p. 603. Schools admit "free white children." 

1865 

Laws, 1865-1866, p. 31. Homestead Act. Homesteads of $1,000 
in value shall be exempt from execution or taxation. Section 6 
provides that this act shall only apply to white persons. 

Laws, 1865-1866, p. 38. A negro can testify only where negroes are 
parties. 

1865-1866 

Laws, 1865-1866, p. 32 . All colored persons living together as hus- 
band and wife, and who continue to do so, are regarded as legally 
married and their children legitimate. Must appear before clerk of 
county court, and declare they had been living as husband and wife 
and wished to continue so. 

1866 

General Laws, 1866, p. 735. All negroes may sue, acquire property, 
etc., in the same manner as white persons. Negroes shall be compe- 
tent witnesses in civil proceedings where negroes are the only par- 
ties, and in criminal proceedings where the negro is defendant. 

General Laws, 1866, p. 735. It is prohibited for any white person to 
intermarry with any negro or any descendant of any negro to the 
third generation inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation 
was a white person. Such intermarriage shall be a felony, punish- 
able by imprisonment in the state penitentiary not more than five 
years. (See Revised Statutes, I852, p. 384.) 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 107 

General Laws, 1866, p. 736. All persons without distinction of color 
are declared subject to the same penalties for offenses, except that 
the laws for the punishment of negroes for rape on white women are 
continued. 

General Laws, 1866, p. 738. The trustees of a school district may 
cause a separate school to be taught for the education of negro 
children. 

1867 

Laws, 1867, p. 94. Negro capitation taxes, and also a special tax of 
$2 per capita upon negroes, shall be used for the benefit of negro 
paupers and for the education of negro children. 

1869 

Laws, i86q, p. 7. A tax on white property for white schools, is 

provided. 

Laws, i86q, p. 127. The school trustees are to encourage indigent 

white children to attend school. 

Laws, i86q, p. 52. Law against rape, applied only to white women. 

No mention of negro women. 

1871-1872 

Laws, 1871-1872, p. 7. Section 6 of Act to exempt homesteads from 
sale for debt (Laws, 1 865-1 866, p. 31) is amended so as hereafter 
to extend the provisions of said act to every bona fide house-keeper 
with a family within this commonwealth, irrespective of race or 
color. 

1873 

Laws, 1873-1874, p. 63. A uniform system of common schools for 
the education of colored children is established. A school fund is 
created known as the colored school fund, to consist of taxes and 
fines of negroes, and of donations. No school district shall contain 
more than one hundred or less than twenty colored children. There 
shall be three colored school trustees in each district who shall 
have the management of colored schools. Appeals from them may 
be taken to the county commissioner. It is unlawful for a colored 
child to attend a white school, and the reverse. No colored school 



io8 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

shall be located within one mile of a white school, except in cities and 
towns, where it may not be within six hundred feet. 

[876 

Laivs, 1876, p. 112. Separation in lunatic asylums provided for 
Negro lunatics must not be kept in the same buildings as white 
lunatics. 

1891 

Laws, 1891-1892-1893. Common School Act, Article XIV, p. 1,490. 
Colored school trustees shall be elected in the same manner as white 
trustees. No tax shall be levied upon property or any services re- 
quired of any white person for benefit of schools for colored children, 
and the reverse. It is not lawful for white children to attend colored 
schools, and the reverse. Colored school officers and teachers are 
authorized to organize teachers institutes for themselves, like white 
institutes. 

Constitution, 1891, Article VI. Section 187. In distributing school 
funds no distinction shall be made on account of race or color, and 
separate schools for white and colored children shall be main- 
tained. 

1892 

Laws, 1891-1802-1803, p. 63. Any railroad company, steam or 
otherwise, on any railway line or track within state, shall provide 
separate coaches for white and colored persons, a good and substan- 
tial wooden apartment being deemed a separate coach. They must 
I] ;\ c signs stating the race for which they are set apart. 

There shall be no discrimination in. quality of accommodations 
for white and colored passengers. 

Any railway failing to comply with this act shall be fined from 
$500 to $1,500. 

Conductors shall assign passengers to place, if they refuse to go, 
the conductor may eject them and no damages shall accrue. 

Any conductor failing to enforce this law shall be fined from $50 
to $100. 

This is not to apply to employees of railways, or persons em- 
ployed as nurses, or officers in charge of prisoners. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 109 

1893 

Laws, 1S93, p. 925. {Code, 1915, Section 2097). Marriage is pro- 
hibited and declared void between a white person and a negro or 
mulatto. 

Laws, 1893, p. 963. A normal school for colored persons was estab- 
lished, and a department for the education of colored students in 
agriculture and mechanical arts. 

1894 

Laws, 1894, March 10. Donations and gifts for education of colored 
children shall be used for that purpose. A census of colored children 
between six years and twenty years shall be taken. Repeats provi- 
sions of school law of 1891-1892-1893, p. 1,490. 

Laws, 1894, p. 757. Separate coach law amended. Adds to excep- 
tions the transportation of passengers in any caboose car attached 
to a freight train. 

1898 

Laws, 1898, p. 102. Where, daring time of slavery, in Kentucky, 
colored persons lived together as husband and wife, the children 
are legitimate. Where a parent subsequently intermarried with 
another colored person and had children, the slave children shall 
share in the proportion of their number to the number from the 
subsequent marriage. 

1904 

Laws, 1904, p. 129. The property of one race must not be taxed 
for the support of schools of the other race. 

Laws, 1904, p. 181. (Berea College Act.) Section 1. It shall be 
unlawful for any person, corporation or association of persons to 
maintain or operate any college, school or institution where persons 
of the white and negro races are both received as pupils for instruc- 
tion; and any person or corporation who shall operate or maintain 
any such college, school or institution shall be fined $1,000, and 
any person or corporation who may be convicted of violating the 
provisions of this act shall be fined $100 for each day they may 
operate said school, college or institution after such conviction. 



no State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Section 2. Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college, 
or institution where members of said two races are received as 
pupils for instruction shall be guilty of operating and maintaining 
same and fined as provided in the first section hereof. 

Section 3. It shall be unlawful for any white person to attend 
any school or institution where negroes are received as pupils or 
receive instruction, and it shall be unlawful for any negro or colored 
person to attend any school or institution where white persons are 
received as pupils or receive instruction. Any person so offending 
shall be fined $50 for each day he attends such institution or school; 
provided, that the provisions of this law shall not apply to any 
penal institution or house of reform. 

Section 4. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent any 
private school, college or institution of learning from maintaining 
a separate and distinct branch thereof, in a different locality, not 
less than twenty-five miles distant, for the education exclusively of 
one race or color. 

Section 3. This act shall not take effect, or be in operation, before 
the 15th of July, 1904. 

1906 

Berea College v. Commonwealth, 123 Kentucky, 209 {1906). So much 
of statute {Laws, 1904, p. 181, Berea College act), as imposes punish- 
ment for operating an institution of learning in which white and 
colored persons may be taught at same time and in same place, is 
valid; so much as prohibits the operation by any institution of 
learning of separate branches for white and colored persons less 
than twenty-five miles distant from each other, is void. 
Laws, 1906, p. 313. It is unlawful to present or participate in, or 
permit any play based upon antagonism alleged formerly to exist 
between master and slave, or that excites race prejudice. Violating 
this act is punishable by a fine from $100 to $500, or imprisonment 
in the country jail one to three months, or both. 

1909 

Code, 1909. Section 282. An institution for education of colored deaf 
mutes is established at Donville, under same board as white insti- 
tution. "But the two races shall be forever kept entirely separate 
and distinct from each other." 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 1 1 1 

Statutes {Carroll), 190Q, p. 1,240. Section 5112. Colored blind chil- 
dren are cared for in the Kentucky Institution for the Education of 
the Blind. 

1910 

Acts, 1 910, p. 207. All negroes and mulattoes living together as 
husband and wife prior to February 14, 1866, and continuing since 
till the death of either or both, or still continuing if living, are legally 
married and their issue legitimate. The customary marriages and 
issue of same of negroes and mulattoes prior to February 14, 1866, 
are legitimate. (Broader than 1898 Laws, p. 102.) 
Acts, 1910, p. 277. "Whereas some difficulty has arisen in construing 
various acts appropriating funds for the benefit of schools for the 
white and colored deaf," a school for white deaf and a school for 
colored deaf is established to be maintained and operated as separate 
and distinct institutions but under the same superintendent and the 
same Board of Commissioners. 

1915 

Statutes {Carroll), 191 5. Section 4487. The provisions of the com- 
mon school law shall apply to such graded common school districts 
as may be applied for and organized by the colored people of this 
Commonwealth. The word colored is to be substituted for the 
word white. No white person shall vote at any election held by 
colored people under provisions of this law, nor shall property of 
any white person be taxed to maintain any graded common school 
for colored children and vice versa, nor shall any white child attend 
any graded common school for colored children and vice versa. 



Louisiana 
1868 

Acts, 1868, p. 278; Revised Statutes, 1870, p. 436. Section 2212. 
Legalized all marriages, provided that parties within two years make 
a declaration of their marriage before a notary or other proper offi- 
cer, giving the date of marriage and the number and age of children. 
Constitution, 1868, Title VII, Article 135. There shall be no separ- 
ate schools or institutions of learning established exclusively for any 



H2 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

. race. (For a previous provision to the contrary see Constitution, 
1845, Title VII, and Constitution, 1852, Title VIII.) 

Constitution, 1868, Title 6, Article q8. Removed limitation of suf- 
frage to white persons. 

1869 

Acts, i86q, p. 37, Code of 1870, Section 456. (See 1914.) Against 
discrimination. Common carriers shall have the right to refuse to 
admit any person to their railroad cars, street cars, steamboats or 
other water craft, coaches, omnibusses, or other vehicles, or to 
expel any person therefrom for refusal to pay fare, or a person of 
infamous character, or one guilty of disorderly conduct, or any one 
who shall commit any act tending to injure the business of the 
carrier, prescribed for the management of his business after such 
rules and regulations shall have been made known. Provided, that 
said rules and regulations make no discrimination on account of 
race or color. 

Except in the cases enumerated in this act no person shall be 
refused admission to or entertainment at any public inn, hotel, or 
place of public resort. 

All licenses hereafter granted to persons engaged in business or 
keeping places of public resort, shall contain the express condition 
that places of business or public resort shall be open to the accom- 
modation and patronage of all persons with no discrimination on 
account of race or color. The penalty for violation shall be the 
forfeiture of the license and closing of the place of business or of 
public resort; and moreover, the offender shall be liable at the suit 
of the person aggrieved to such damages as he shall sustain thereby. 
In case of violation of the provisions of this act, the injured party 
shall have the right to recover damages, exemplary as well as actual. 

1870 

Revised Code, 1870. Section 2215. The right of making private or 
religious marriages legal, valid, and binding shall apply to all per- 
sons of whatever race or color as well as to marriages formerly pro- 
hibited by any law of the state. 

Section 2216. Any parties who at any time previous to the pas- 
sage of this act lived together as man and wife, and who desire to 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 113 

contract a legal marriage, shall be entitled to the benefit of the 
provisions of this law. 

Revised Code, 1870. Nothing found against intermarriage or mis- 
cegenation, under those headings, or any other headings. 

1871 

Laws, 1871, p. 57. The mode of trying cases arising under the Civil 
Rights Act of 1869, p. 37, is provided for. 

Laws, 1871, p. 208. Provision for the instruction of the blind, and 
for an industrial home for the blind at Baton Rouge. Provides that 
"no part of this act shall be construed so as to deprive any person on 
account of race or color of the privilege of admittance to the insti- 
tution." 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 156. Every citizen of Louisiana and of the United 
States residing in Louisiana, shall enjoy equal and impartial accom- 
modations, advantages, facilities, and privileges from all common 
carriers on land and water, from inn-keepers and from all public 
places of resort licensed by the state or by any municipal corpora- 
tion. 

If any inn-keeper or manager of public resort refuse equal and 
impartial accommodations to any citizen, he shall forfeit his license 
and thereafter shall not pursue that calling and shall be liable to the 
injured party for damages. Common carriers are liable on an action 
for damages in favor of the injured party, and each carrier shall 
forfeit license. 

The Attorney-General on complaint shall take proceedings in the 
name of the state and preference shall be given to his proceeding. 

If any agent of a railroad or steamboat company shall thus dis- 
criminate, such employee shall be arrested and fined or imprisoned, 
and shall be liable for damages in favor of the person so injured. 
(See 1902 for repeal.) 

1875 

Hall v. DeCuir, Q7 United States 485. Held Act of 1869 against dis- 
crimination by railroads, etc., unconstitutional, because it consti- 
tuted interference with interstate commerce. 



ii4 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laws, 1875, p. 50. Establishment of an agricultural and mechanical 
college. It is provided there shall be no discrimination of race or 
color in the admission, management, or discipline of the institution. 

1879 

Constitution. No reference is made either way as to separation in 
schools. The provision of the 1868 Constitution is omitted. 

1880 

Laws, 1880, p. 52. There shall be no distinction made on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude, in selecting jurors. 

Laws, 1880, p. no. Provides for the establishment of Southern Uni- 
versity, for the education of negroes. 

189O 

Laws, 1890, p. 152. {Code, 1904, p. 1498.) Railway companies shall 
provide equal but separate accommodations for white and colored 
races by providing two or more coaches, or by partition in coach. 
This Act shall not apply to street railroads. No person shall occupy 
any seat other than the one assigned. 

Section 2. Officers shall assign passengers to proper seats. Per- 
sons insisting on entering wrong place may be fined $25, or impris- 
oned for not more than twenty days. A railroad officer assigning 
any one to improper place may be punished by fine of $25 or im- 
prisonment not exceeding twenty days. A passenger refusing to 
occupy the proper place may be ejected. No liability for damages 
by railway company for so doing shall be incurred. 

Section 3. All officers and directors of railway companies that 
shall refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions and require- 
ments of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and 
shall upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction 
be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500, and any conductor 
or other employee of such passenger train who shall refuse or neg- 
lect to carry out the provisions of this Act shall on conviction be 
fined not less than $25 nor more than $50 for each offense. All rail- 
road companies other than street railroad companies shall keep this 
law posted in a conspicuous place in each passenger coach and 
ticket office. Nothing herein shall be construed as applying to 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 1 1 5 

nurses travelling with children of other race, or officers in charge 
of prisoners. 

1894 

Laws, 18Q4, p. 63. Marriage between white persons and persons of 
color is prohibited, and its celebration is forbidden, and it is null 
and void. (No special penalty attached. Only penalty that for 
any marriage within forbidden degrees). 

Laws, 18Q4, p. 200. Amends separate coach law of 1890, p. 152, by 
adding to Section 3 the words, "or prisoners in charge of sheriffs or 
their deputies or other officers." 

Laws, 18Q4, p. 133. {Revised Statutes, 1904, p. 1500.) Upon the con- 
struction or renewal of depots, they must have equal but separate 
waiting rooms for the white and colored races. No person shall 
occupy the wrong room. 

Section 2. The power to assign any one to the proper place is 
given to railroad employees. Any person insisting on entering the 
improper place may be fined $25 or imprisoned not more than 30 
days. An agent assigning any one to improper place may be fined 
$25 or imprisoned not more than 30 days. Upon refusal of any 
person to occupy an assigned place, he may be ejected, with no 
liability for damages. 

Section 3. An agent failing to enforce this Act is guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, punishable by $25 to $50 fine. This law must be posted in 
a conspicuous place. Nurses attending children of other race and 
sheriffs having persons in charge are made exceptions. 

1898 

Constitution, 1898, Article 248. The General Assembly shall estab- 
lish free public schools for the white and the colored races. 

I 

1902 

Laws, 1902, p. 89. All street railways must provide separate but 
equal accommodations, consisting of two cars, or else of wooden or 
wire screen partitions. 

Section 2. Railway officers must assign passengers to the proper 
seat. A passenger insisting on going to a wrong seat is liable to a 
fine of $25 or imprisonment of not more than thirty days. A rail- 



1 1 6 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

way officer making an improper assignment is liable to a fine of $25 
or imprisonment for not more than thirty days. A passenger refus- 
ing to occupy the proper place may be ejected, with no damages 
from the railway company. 

Section 3. For a railway company refusing to comply with these 
provisions, a penalty is provided of a fine of $100, or imprisonment 
for not less than sixty days and not more than six months. A con- 
ductor not enforcing the Act is fined not less than $25 or imprisoned 
not less than ten days and not more than thirty days. The law 
shall be posted in a conspicuous place in cars and stations. Excep- 
tion to the law is made of nurses attending children of the other 
race. 

Laws, 1902, p. 2j. Repeal of Civil Rights Act of 1873, p. 156. 
Laws, 1902, p. 144, Act to establish the "Insane Asylum for Colored 
People of the State of Louisiana." 

1904 

Laws, 1904, p. 353. A requirement to keep separate as far as prac- 
ticable males under eighteen years of the white and colored races, 
in the Reform School (Louisiana Training Institute). 

1908 

Act 87, p. 105. Concubinage between the Caucasian or white race 
and any person of the negro or black race is a felony. The punish- 
ment is imprisonment from one month to one year, with or without 
hard labor. 

Section 2. Living together is proof of violation of this act. 

Laws, 1908, p. 239. It is unlawful for any person conducting a bar- 
room, cabaret, coffee-house, cafe, beer-saloon, liquor exchange, 
drinking grog-shop, beer-house, beer-garden, or other place where 
spirituous, vinous or malt liquors or intoxicating beverages are sold, 
to permit in same building the sale for consumption on the premises 
of intoxicating liquors to whites and negroes. Violation is a misde- 
meanor, punishable by $50 to $500 fine, or imprisonment in the 
parish jail or the parish prison not more than two years, or both. 






I9IO 

Laws, 1910, p. 32. Same as 1908, p. 239, except that the words are 
used "Persons of the Caucasian and colored races." 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 1 1 7 

Laws, iqio, p. 344. Law of 1908, p. 105, as to concubinage repeated, 
changing the word "negro" to the word "color" or "colored." 

1912 

Laws, 1912, p. 139. Municipal corporations are authorized to with- 
hold building permits for building negro houses in white commu- 
nities, or any portion of a community inhabited principally by white 
people,- and vice versa, except on the written consent of a majority 
of those of the opposite race in the portion to be effected. 

Section 2. The words "white community" and "negro community" 
mean any subdivision or portion thereof, or any street, inhabited 
principally by white people, or vice versa, as case may be. 

Section 3. A firm or person violating these provisions, by build- 
ing such a house without a permit is liable to a fine of from $50 to 
$2,000, and the municipality shall have the right to cause said 
building to be removed and destroyed. 

I914 

Annotated Revised Statutes, 1914. Civil Rights Law of 1869, as Sec- 
tions 922-925. 

Maine 
1819 

Constitution, 1S19, II. Every male citizen had the right to vote. 

I82I 

Laws, 1S21, Vol. I, p. 341. All marriages between white persons and 
negroes, mulattoes, or Indians are prohibited. Any such marriage 
shall be absolutely void. 

1847 

Revised Statutes, 1847, Chapter 59. Section 3. The same provision 
appears, as to intermarriage. (This is the last Revised Statutes in 
which this provision appears. It is not contained in the next edition 
of the Revised Statutes in 1857. It was not repealed till as appears 
below) . 






n8 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1883 

Laws, 1883, p. 167. The law as to marriage is amended by striking 
out the provision as to marriages of whites with negroes, etc. Re- 
peals law of 1 82 1. 



Maryland 
1867 

Constitution, 1867, Article III. Section 1. (Constitution not changed 
since.) "White male citizens" have the right to vote. 

Constitution, 1867, Article III. Section 53. No person shall be incom- 
petent as a witness unless thereafter so declared by general assembly. 

Chapter 423, p. 858. Marriages made in the state prior to March 22, 
1867, between colored people, are confirmed and made valid from 
time of celebration, and are good and sufficient in law. The parties 
claiming to have been married shall establish the fact before some 
Justice of Peace, a certificate of which shall be filed with the clerk of 
the circuit court for the county or the Court of Common Pleas of 
Baltimore City. 

Thereafter, colored persons are to be married in the same manner 
and under same regulations as white persons. 

1870 

Laws, 1870, Chapter 3Q2. Section 1. The House of Reformation for 
colored minors is provided for (like the House of Refuge for white 
minors, with the same provisions as in chapter as to latter). 

Laws, 1870, p. 555-556. All taxes paid for school purposes by col- 
ored people in any county or in the city of Baltimore, and donations 
for that purpose, shall be set aside for maintaining schools for col- 
ored children. Further appropriations can be made by school com- 
missioners. 

1872 

Laws, 1872, p. 650. The Board of County School Commissioners 
shall establish schools for colored children in each election district, 
subject to same laws and regulations as schools for white children. 
The taxes of colored persons shall be devoted to them except that no 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 119 

colored school shall be established in a district unless the colored 
population warrants. 

Laws, 18/2, Chapter 377, p. 650. The Board of County School Com- 
missioners shall establish one or more public schools in each elec- 
tion district for all colored youth between six and twenty years of 
age, admission to be free provided the colored population of such 
district shall warrant in establishing said schools. 

Laws, 1872, Chapter 377. Colored schools are provided with support 

from the general school fund. 

Laws, 1872, p. 134. Admission to the bar is limited to white male 

citizens. 

Laws, 1872, Chapter 377. The taxes paid for school purposes by the 

colored people of any county shall be used for schools for colored 

children. 

1874 

Laws, 1874, Chapter 463, p. 6go. Colored schools shall be under the 
direction of a special Board of School Trustees, subject to the same 
laws for their government, and furnished with instruction in the 
same branches, as schools for white children. 

1876 

Laws, 1S76, p. 46Q. Admission to the bar is limited to white male 
citizens. 

1882 

Laws, 1882, Chapter 2Qi. Section 1. An industrial home for colored 

girls is authorized. 

1884 

Laws, 1884, Chapter 264. All marriages between white persons and 
negroes or white persons and persons of negro descent to third gen- 
eration inclusive, are forever prohibited, and void. Such person is 
guilty of infamous crime and subject to a penalty of imprisonment 
in the penitentiary for not less than eighteen months nor more than 
ten years. 

Any minister or other person joining in marriage any negro with 
any white person shall be fined $100. (See Code, i860, p. 236 and 
p. 241, and Laws, 1715, Chapter 44, Section 25.) 



120 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1894 

Laws, 1894, p. 939, Chapter i8y. Section 329 A. The House of the 
Good Shepherd for colored girls of the city of Baltimore is provided for. 
A refuge for colored females wishing to abandon vicious courses and 
reform. It is vested with same powers and duties as by law for white 
females and the House of the Good Shepherd of the city of Baltimore. 
All courts and Justices of Peace can commit colored females in 
the same way as white females to the latter institution. 

1898 

Laws, 1898, p. 815. The Board of County School Commissioners, 
wherever suitable accommodations are provided by the County, 
shall provide for the maintenance of separate colored industrial 
schools if in their judgment needed, the salaries to be paid out of 
the general fund. 

1904 

Laws, 1904, p. 240. In 1904 Maryland laws, race qualifications are 
omitted for admission to the bar. (See 1914.) 

Laws, 1904, p. 186, Chapter 109. Section 1. All railroad companies 
are required to provide separate cars or coaches for white and col- 
ored passengers; a compartment with a "good and substantial par- 
tition with a door or place of exit from each division" is compliance. 
They must have words in plain letters in a conspicuous place indi- 
cating whether for white or colored passengers. 

Section 2. There must be no difference or discrimination in qual- 
ity of convenience or accommodation. 

Section 3. Any railroad company or person failing to comply 
with this act may be fined not less than $300 nor more than $1,000 
for each offense. 

Section 4. Conductors shall assign to each white or colored pas- 
senger his place and may eject a passenger refusing to occupy the 
place assigned, neither railroad company or conductor being liable 
in damages. The passenger refusing to occupy the assigned place 
is guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not less than $5 nor more 
than $50, or imprisoned in the jail not less than thirty days, or both. 

Section 5. Any conductor who shall fail to perform the duties 
in Section 4 is guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not less than $25 
nor more than $50. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 121 

Section 6. When either section is completely filled, and this could 
not be foreseen, and no extra cars can be obtained, the conductor 
may assign passengers of one color to the place for the other. 

Section 7. These provisions shall not apply to employees of 
railroads or persons employed as nurses or officers in charge of prison- 
ers, whether white or colored or both, or to prisoners in their cus- 
tody, nor to transportation of passengers in a caboose car attached 
to a freight train, nor to parlor nor sleeping cars, nor through express 
trains that do no local business. 

Laws, 1904, Chapter no. Section I. Officers of steamboats shall 
assign white and colored passengers to the respective locations they 
are to occupy. They must separate as far as the construction of 
boat and due consideration for comfort of passengers will permit, 
white and colored passengers in sitting, sleeping, and eating apart- 
ments. No discrimination shall be made in quality and convenience 
of accommodations in the respective locations. Exceptions to the 
Act are made of nurses or attendants traveling with employers, 
officers in charge of prisoners, white or colored, or both, and to 
prisoners in their custody. 

Section 2. An officer in command of any boat refusing to enforce 
this Act, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined not less than $25 nor 
more than $50. 

Section 3. A passenger refusing to occupy the location assigned, 
whether of sitting, sleeping, or eating, is guilty of misdemeanor, and 
may be fined not less than $5 nor more than $50, or imprisoned in 
jail not less than thirty days. He may be ejected from the boat. 
Necessary assistance to do this may be secured. No liability for 
damages by the steamboat company or officers shall be incurred. 

1908 

Laws, 1008, Chapter 248. Conductors or managers of railway com- 
panies operating cars by electricity, running twenty miles beyond 
the limits of any incorporated city or town of the state for transpor- 
tation of passengers, are required to designate separate seats for 
white and colored passengers. They shall make no discrimination in 
quality of or convenience in seats. No white person shall force 
himself into a seat designated for a colored person (and vice versa). 
If a passenger refuses to occupy an assigned seat, the conductor may 



122 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

refuse to carry, and may put off, such passengers. He shall not be 
liable therefor in damages. Such passenger is guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and may be fined not more than $50, or imprisoned in jail 
thirty days, or both. A conductor refusing to enforce the act is 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be fined not more than $20. 
When the seats are all occupied but are not all filled, and an in- 
creased number of passengers cannot be accommodated with sepa- 
rate seats, the conductor is authorized to assign passengers of the 
same color to vacant seats, and with permission of the occupant 
can assign a passenger of another color to the unoccupied seats, but 
not otherwise. The act shall not apply to nurses or valets accom- 
panying those needing their attention. 

Laws, iqo8, Chapter 2Q2. The provision that "Each compartment 
of a car divided by a good substantial partition, with a door or place 
of exit from each division, shall be deemed a separate car," shall not 
be applied to counties of Prince George's, Charles, St. Mary's, Cal- 
vert, and Anne Arundel, so that in said counties there shall be sep- 
arate cars or coaches. But a combination car, not over one-third 
of which is used for baggage or mail, for the purposes of this section 
shall be deemed a separate car. Each separate car shall have in a 
conspicuous place, both inside and outside, words and letters indi- 
cating whether set apart for white or colored passengers. This 
section shall not apply to trains making no scheduled intermediate 
service stops between their termini. 

Laws, iqo8, Chapter 617. Steamboats on Chesapeake Bay, between 
the City of Baltimore and points on the Bay and its tributaries, 
shall provide separate toilet or retiring rooms, and separate sleeping 
cabins, on or before July 1, 1908, for white and colored passengers, 
under penalty of $50 for each day's violation. 

Laws iqo8, Chapter sqq. A State Normal School for instruction and 
practice of colored teachers is authorized, under the control of the 
State Board of Education. It shall include courses for preparation 
for teaching elements of agricultural and mechanical arts, etc. 

I9IO 

Laws, iqio, p. 232. The Colored Industrial School law of 1848 is 
amplified and made more specific. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 123 

Laws, 1910, p. 2j8. Establishes a "hospital for the negro insane of 
Maryland," for the detention and care of the negro insane of the state. 

1914 

Chapter 655, p. 1108. All persons possessing the necessary qualifica- 
tions shall be eligible to take examinations for admission to the bar. 



Massachusetts 

1705 

Laws, 170$, Chapter 6. An Act for the better preventing of spurious 
and mixed issue. A negro or "molatto" man committing fornication 
with "an English woman or a woman of any other Christian nation," 
shall be sold out of the province. An "English man, or man of any 
other Christian nation," committing fornication with a negro or 
molatto woman, shall be whipped, and the woman sold out of the 
province. 

None of Her Majesty's English or Scottish subjects nor of any 
other Christian nation within this province "shall contract matri- 
mony with any negro or molatto" under a penalty imposed on the 
person joining them in marriage. 

1784 

Laws, 1784, p. 72. Section 10. Whoever confines or imprisons 
without lawful authority another person against his will, or kid- 
naps another person, and whoever sells or in any manner transfers 
for any term the service or labor of a negro, mulatto, or other per- 
son of color, who has been unlawfully seized or kidnapped from 
here to any other state or place, shall be punished by imprisonment 
of not more than ten years, or a fine of not more than $1,000 and 
imprisonment in jail of not more than two years. Whoever com- 
mits any offense described in this section to extort money or other 
valuable thing, shall be punished by an imprisonment in the State 
Prison not more than twenty- five years. (1902 Revised Laws, 
Chapter 207, Section 26.) 

1786 

Laws, 1786, Chapter j. Section 7. No person authorized to marry 

shall join in marriage any white person with any negro, Indian, or 



124 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

mulatto, under the penalty of £50; and all such marriages shall be 
absolutely null and void. 

1788 

Laws, 1788, Chapter 2, March 26. No African or negro other than 
a citizen of one of the States shall tarry in the Commonwealth 
more than two months, or he may be ordered to depart, and if he 
does not depart he may be subject to penalty. 

1834 

Laws, 18J4, Chapter 177. An act for the orderly solemnization of 

marriage, repealing former acts, but excepting Section 7 of Act of 

1786. 

1843 

Laws, 1843, Chapter 5. An act relating to marriages between indi- 
viduals of certain races. This act repeals the provisions against the 
intermarriage of whites, negroes, etc. 

1855 

Acts, 1855, p. 674, Chapter 256. {School Act.) No distinction shall 
be made on account of race, color, or religious opinions of the appli- 
cant or scholar. 

Section 2. Any child who on account of his race, color, or relig- 
ious opinions is excluded from any public or district school may 
recover damages in an action of tort. 

Section 4. Every person belonging to a school committee under 
whose rules any child shall be excluded, and the teacher of any such 
school, shall, on application by the parent or guardian, state in 
writing the grounds and reasons of such exclusion. 

1865 

Acts, 1865, p. 650. No distinction, discrimination, or restriction on 
account of color or race shall be lawful in any licensed inn, in any 
public place of amusement, public conveyance, or public meeting. 
Penalty, a fine not exceeding $50. 

1866 

Acts, 1866, p. 242. It is not lawful to exclude persons from or restrict 
them in any theater or public place of amusement, licensed under the 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 125 

laws of the Commonwealth, or in any public conveyance or public 
meeting, or licensed inn, except for good cause. Penalty, a fine not 
exceeding $50. 

1884 

Laws, 1884, p. 194. No life insurance company shall make any dis- 
tinction between white and colored persons wholly or partially of 
African descent, as to premiums or rates, or as to amount to be 
paid in case of death, nor insert in the policy any condition as to 
accepting less than full value of the policy, other than such as are 
imposed upon white persons in similar cases. 

Any such company which shall refuse an application of a colored 
person for insurance upon his life, shall furnish, on request, the 
certificate of the doctor of the company stating that the refusal is 
not on account of color but solely upon such grounds of general 
health and prospect of longevity as would be applicable to white 
persons of the same age and sex. 

Any corporation or officer or agent violating the provisions of this 
Act, shall forfeit not to exceed $100. 

1885 

Acts, 1885, p. 774. There shall be no distinction or discrimination 
on account of color or race, or except for good cause, in admission 
to or treatment in any theater, skating-rink, or other public place 
of amusement, whether licensed or not, or public conveyance, 
public meeting or inn, whether licensed or not. Penalty, a fine not 
exceeding $100. 

1887 

Acts, 1887, p. 815. Section 69. Same as insurance act of 1884, 

p. 194, but Section 3 (penalty) omitted. 

1893 

Acts, i8qj, p. 1320. Added after inn in 1885 Acts, p. 774, "barber's 

shop or other public place kept for hire, gain, or reward." 

1894 

Acts, 1894, p. 825. A resolution deprecating the action of the Na- 
tional League of American Wheelmen in voting to exclude colored 
persons from membership. 



126 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Acts, 18Q4, p. 609. Section n. No person shall be excluded from a 
public school on account of race, color, or the religious opinions of 
the applicant or scholar. 

1895 

Acts, 1895, p. 519. Whoever makes any distinction, discrimination, 
or restriction on account of color or race, or except for good cause, 
applicable alike to all persons of every color and race, relative to 
the admission of any person to or his treatment in, a theater, 
skating-rink, or other place of amusement, licensed or unlicensed, 
or in a public conveyance or public meeting, or in an inn, barber 
shop, or other public place kept for hire, gain, or reward, licensed 
or unlicensed, or whoever aids or incites such a distinction, shall for 
each offense be punished by a fine of not more than $300 or impris- 
onment for not more than one year, or both, and shall forfeit to 
any person aggrieved thereby not less than $25 nor more than $300, 
but such person so aggrieved shall not recover against more than 
one person by reason of one act. 

1896 

Acts, 1896, p. 659. A resolution expressing reprobation of hotels in 
Boston for excluding a colored bishop, the senior bishop of the 
American Methodist Episcopal Church. 



Michigan 
1838 

Revised Statutes, 1838, p. 334. No white person shall intermarry 
with a negro or mulatto. 

1850 

Constitution, 1850, Article VII. Section 1. White males only have 
the franchise. 

1871 

Laws, 1871, p. 274. No separate school or department shall be kept 
for any persons on account of race or color. Provided, That this 
shall not be construed to prevent the grading of schools according 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 127 

to the intellectual progress of the pupil. (Howell's Statutes, 1913, 
Section 9904.) 

1883 

Laws, 1883, p. 16. All marriages heretofore contracted between 
white persons and those wholly or partly African of descent, are 
hereby declared valid and effectual in law for all purposes, and the 
issue of such marriages shall be deemed and taken as legitimate as to 
such issue and as to both of the parents. 

1885 

Laws, 1885, p. iji. All persons are entitled to the full and equal 
accommodations of inns, restaurants, eating-houses, barber shops, 
public conveyances on land and water, theaters, and all other places 
of public accommodation and amusement, subject only to the con- 
ditions and limitation established by law and applicable alike to 
all citizens. 

Denying the full accommodation or aiding or inciting such denial 
is a misdemeanor punished by a fine not to exceed $100, or imprison- 
ment for not more than thirty days, or both. 

No citizen possessing all other qualifications shall be disqualified 
to serve as grand or petit juror in any court of the State on account 
of race or color. Any officer excluding or failing to summon any 
citizen for such cause, is guilty of misdemeanor and shall be fined 
not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or 
both. 

1893 

Laws, i8qj, p. 60. No life insurance company shall make discrimi- 
nation between white and colored persons, wholly or partially of 
African descent, as to premiums charged, nor make any rebate or 
diminution upon the amount paid in case of death, nor insert any 
condition in a policy for any less sum than full value. There shall 
be a forfeit to the State of $500 for each violation, to be covered by 
the attorney-general. Any officer or agent violating the law is 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by confinement in 
the county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not less than 
$50 and not exceeding $500, or both. 



128 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1899 

Laws, 1899, p. 387. Marriage law of 1883, p. 16, repeated. 

1901 

Laws, 1 901, p. 293. The Michigan National Guard shall be com- 
posed of not less than forty companies of infantry. Provided, That 
if more than forty companies are organized, at least one shall be 
composed of colored men. 

1905 

Laws, 1905, p. 158. The Michigan National Guard shall be com- 
posed or not less than thirty-six companies of infantry, and not 
more than thirty-six companies shall be organized and maintained 
as part of the Michigan National Guard until after there be organ- 
ized one troop of cavalry, one battery of light artillery, one signal 
corps, and one company of engineers. (No mention of colored 
regiment.) 



Minnesota 

1857 

Constitution, 1857, Article VII. Section 1. White males only given 

franchise. 

1865 

Laws, 1865, p. 118. A Constitutional amendment submitted giving 

negroes the suffrage. Defeated by a vote of the State. 

1877 

General Laws, 1877, p. 141. (Chapter 74, Chapter 6, Section 1). If 
children are denied admission to public schools, or suspended or 
expelled on account of color, social position, or nationality, the 
board shall forfeit $50 for each offense; and nothing in this act or 
any amendment to it shall be so construed as to authorize classi- 
fying scholars with reference to color, or to set them apart into sepa- 
rate schools without their consent and the consent of the parents 
or guardians of such children. Any district offending shall lose the 
benefit of the public school funds. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 129 

1885 

Laws, 1885, p. 296. All persons shall be entitled to the full and 
equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and 
privileges of inns, public conveyances on land and water, theaters, 
and places of public amusement, restaurants, and barber shops, 
subject only to the conditions and limitations applicable alike to all 
citizens of every race and color regardless of any previous condition 
of servitude. Penalty for violation, a fine from $100 to $500, or 
imprisonment from thirty days to one year. 

1897 

Laws, 1SQ7, p. 616. {Civil Rights Law.) Prohibits excluding from 
"accommodations furnished by innkeepers, hotel keepers, managers 
or lessees, common carriers, or by owners, managers or lessees of 
theaters or other places of amusement, or public conveyances on 
land or water, restaurants, barber shops, eating houses, or other 
places of public resort, refreshment, accommodation, or enter- 
tainment." 

Denying the enjoyment unlawfully of any hotel, inn, tavern, 
restaurant, eating house, soda-water fountain, ice-cream parlor, 
public conveyance on land or water, theater, barber shop, or other 
place of public refreshment, amusement, instruction, accommo- 
dation, or entertainment is a misdemeanor with penalty of a fine 
from $25 to $100, or confinement in a county jail from thirty to 
ninety days. Damages of from $25 to $500 are provided for the 
injured party. 

1899 

Laws, i8qq, p. 38. No person shall be excluded on account of race 
or color from full enjoyment of any accommodation furnished by 
public conveyances, theaters, or other public places of amusement, 
or by hotels, barber shops, saloons, restaurants, or other places of 
refreshment, entertainment, or accommodation. Violation of this 
act or inciting thereto is a gross misdemeanor, and in addition to the 
penalty therefor, the offender is made liable to the person aggrieved 
for damages not exceeding $500. 



130 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1905 

Revised Laws, 1905, Section 1402. Separate school provision of 1877, 
General Laws, p. 141, repeated, in substance, with provision as to 
consent omitted. 

Rei'ised Laws, 1905. Section 140J. A school district shall not 
classify its pupils with reference to race or color, nor separate them 
into different schools or departments for these reasons. Punishment 
is forfeiture by a district of its share of the public school fund so 
long as such classification or separation continues. (General Statutes, 
1913, Section 2901.) 



Mississippi 

1865 

Laws, 1 86$, P- 82. Negroes may intermarry with each other under 
the same regulations as for white persons. All who have been and 
are cohabiting are held in law as married and the children as 
legitimate. 

Laws, 1865, p. 82. Section 3. It is not lawful for any freedman, free 
negro, or mulatto to intermarry with any white person (or vice versa). 
It is a felony. The penalty is imprisonment in the state peniten- 
tiary for life. Those shall be deemed freedmen, free negroes, or 
mulattoes who are of pure negro blood, and those descended from 
a negro to the third generation, though one ancestor of each gener- 
ation may have been a white person. (See Revised Code, 1857, p. 
311. Digest Laws, 1839, p. 560.) 

Laws, 1865, p. 92. There is the same liability for negroes to support 
their indigents as for white persons theirs. A tax of $1 is placed 
upon every freedman, free negro, or mulatto between eighteen and 
sixty years of age, for the Freedman's Pauper Fund. If they refuse 
to pay tax, they may be arrested and hired out till the amount is 
worked out. 

Laws, 1865, p. 2ji. (General Act in Relation to Railroads.) Sec- 
tion 6. It is unlawful for any officer or employee on any railroad to 
allow any freedman, negro, or mulatto to ride in any first-class 
passenger cars, set apart, or used by and for white persons. Offend- 
ing is a misdemeanor punished by a fine from $50 to $500; and 






State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 131 

imprisonment in county jail until fine and costs of prosecution are 
paid. Provided this section is not to apply in case of negroes or 
mulattoes travelling with their mistresses in the capacity of nurses. 
Section 8. Half of the fines collected under the Act shall be paid 
to the informer, the other half into the treasury of the county where 
the offense was committed. 

1867 

Laws, 1866-1867, p. 232. Negroes are given the right to testify on 
the same terms as white persons. 

Laws, 1866-186/, p. 233. Negroes are not competent to serve as 
petit or grand jurors. 

T868 

Constitution, 1868, Article VII, Section 2. Removed the limita- 
tion of suffrage to white persons only. 

Constitution, 1868, Article 1. Section 24. The rights of all citizens 
to travel upon all public conveyances shall not be infringed upon 
nor in any manner abridged in this State. 

1871 

Revised Code, Mississippi. No miscegenation or intermarriage stat- 
ute. Omitted. 

Revised Code, 1871. Section 1993. All children from five to twenty- 
one years of age shall have in all respects equal advantages in public 
schools. (Only provision in the law.) 

1872 

66 Tennessee, 9. State v. J. P. Bell. Case of a white man married to 
a woman of color in the state of Mississippi ("where such marriages 
are not forbidden by law") who removed to Tennessee with his wife. 
Held an indictable offense in Tennessee for a white man and colored 
woman to live together as man and wife, although married accord- 
ing to the forms of law in Mississippi. 

Laws, 1872, p. 8$. There shall be no distinction on account of race 
or color or previous condition in working convicts. 



132 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 66. All citizens of the State without distinction of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude, are entitled to equal 
and impartial enjoyment of any accommodation, advantage, or 
privilege furnished by common carriers, whether upon land or upon 
water, by any keeper or lessee of any hotel, inn, or restaurant, by 
any owner or manager of any theater or other place of public 
amusement or of public entertainment or accommodation, and the 
equal and impartial enjoyment of such accommodation shall for- 
ever remain a right inherent in every person, which right shall not 
be abridged or denied on account of any distinction of race, color, 
or previous condition of servitude. 

Any person violating or abridging these rights is guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and shall pay to the person aggrieved not less than $300, 
with full costs and allowance for counsel's fees, and shall be fined 
not less than $100, or imprisoned not less than thirty days or more 
than one year, or both. Any corporation, association, or individual 
violating the same shall forfeit charter or license. Continuing to 
operate without a charter or license is a misdemeanor, punishable by 
a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000, and impris- 
onment of not less than three nor more than seven years for each 
offense. The corporate and joint property of such corporation, 
association, or individual shall be liable for the forfeitures, fines, and 
penalties incurred. 

The burden of proof is upon the defendant to show the refusal 
was not on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 
Judges of circuit courts shall give this Act specially in charge to the 
grand jury. District attorneys shall prosecute such cases. Any 
district attorney refusing is guilty of a misdemeanor in office, pun- 
ishable by $500 to $1,000 fine and may also be dismissed from office. 

1878 

Laws, 1878, p. 103. It is prohibited to teach white and colored 
children in the same schoolhouse. 

Laws, 1878, p. iiq. Section 1. The Alcorn Agricultural and Mechani- 
cal College of Mississippi is authorized, for education of colored 
youth of the State. Provisions same in substance as those for 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 133 

Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (white), one-half 
of interest on State fund going to each institution. 

1880 

Revised Code, 1880. Section 1147. Marriage is unlawful between 
white persons and negroes or mulattoes or persons of one-quarter or 
more negro blood, and is incestuous and void. 

The punishment is the same as for marriage within prohibited 
degrees, namely, a fine up to #500, or imprisonment in the peniten- 
tiary up to ten years, or both. (Reinsertion of law omitted in 1871. 
Not found in Session Laws, 1873-1890.) 

1888 

Laws, 1888, p. 45. Section 2. {General Act as to Railroad Com- 
mission, etc.) The Board is authorized to designate and provide, 
"if deemed proper, separate rooms for the sexes and the races," in 
any new depot building. 

Sectionj. Every conductor of trains carrying passengers is 
authorized to assign passengers to any car, or to seats in a particular 
part of any car on his train, provided that equal accommodations 
are given to passengers holding tickets of same class, and any 
forcible resistance to such assignment is deemed a breach of the 
peace. 

Laws, 1888, p. 48. All railroads carrying passengers (other than 
street railways) shall provide equal but separate accommodation 
for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger 
cars for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger cars by 
a partition so as to secure separate accommodations. 

Section 2. Conductors of passenger trains are required to assign 
each passenger to the car or compartment of car (when divided by 
a partition) used for the race to which the passenger belongs. A 
passenger refusing to occupy car assigned may be refused transpor- 
tation, and the company shall not be liable for damages. 

Section 3. Railroad companies neglecting within sixty days after 
approval of act to comply with this law are guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and may be fined not more than $500. A conductor failing to 
enforce the law may be fined from $25 to $50 for each offense. 



134 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1890 

Constitution, i8qo, Article VIII. Section 207. Separate schools 
shall be maintained for children of the white and colored races. 
Constitution, i8qo, Article XIV. Section 263. The marriage of a 
white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one- 
eighth or more of negro blood shall be null and void. 
Laws, i8qo, p. 58. A lunatic asylum is established, with an annex 
for colored patients. The white and colored races shall be kept 
separate. 

1896 

Laws, i8q6, p. 115. Separate districts shall be made for the schools 
of the white and colored races, and the districts for each race shall 
embrace the whole territory of the county outside the separate 
school districts. 

1904 

Laws, 1904, p. 140. All street railways carrying passengers shall 
provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and 
colored races by providing two or more cars or by dividing their cars 
by a partition or by adjustable screens which may be made movable 
so as to allow adjustment of space in the car suited to the require- 
ments of traffic, so as to secure separate accommodations for white 
and colored races. No persons are permitted to occupy seats in a 
car or compartment other than those assigned to them on account 
of the race to which they belong. 

Section 2. Employees on street cars are required to assign pas- 
sengers to their places. A passenger insisting on occupying a wrong 
place is liable to a fine of $25 or confinement not more than thirty 
days in county jail. An employee insisting on assigning passenger to 
compartment other than proper one, is liable to a fine of $25 or con- 
finement not more than thirty days in the county jail. If a passenger 
refuse to occupy proper place, the company may refuse to carry 
him, and no damages against either employee or railway company 
may be collected. 

Section 3. A street railway not complying with these provisions 
is guilty of a misdemeanor, the penalty being a fine of not less than 
$100, or imprisonment not less than sixty days and not more than 
six months. Employees not carrying out the provisions of this act 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 135 

may be fined not less than $25, or imprisoned not more than thirty 
days. Street railways shall keep the law posted in a conspicuous 
place in each car and at transfer stations. 

An exception is made of nurses attending children of the other 
race. 

1906 

Code, 1906. Section 1351. A railroad failing to provide two pas- 
senger cars, or a partition, for separate accommodation for the white 
and colored races; or a conductor failing to assign a passenger to 
his proper place, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Fine $20 to $500. 

Code, 1906. Section 4866. It is the duty of the railroad commission 
to require comfortable and suitable waiting-rooms for passengers, 
separate for the races. 

Code, 1906. Section 4855. In cities of 3,000 or more inhabitants, 
the commission shall cause to be maintained in connection with the 
reception-room for whites, two closets or retiring-rooms with notice 
painted on doors, "Closet, white, females only," "Closet, white, 
males only." Likewise closets shall be provided for negroes with 
like signs painted on the doors, substituting "colored" for "white." 

Code, 1906. Section 3244. The marriage of a white person with a 
negro or mulatto or a person with one-eighth or more of negro blood, 
or with a Mongolian or person with one-eighth or more of Mongolian 
blood, is unlawful and void. 

Code, 1906. Section 1031. Persons being within the degrees within 
which marriages are declared by law to be incestuous and void, 
cohabiting, or committing adultery, etc., are liable to a penalty of 
imprisonment not exceeding ten years. 

Code, 1906. Section 3625. In the penitentiary, white convicts shall 
have separate apartments from the negro convicts, for both eating 
and sleeping. 

1908 

Laws, 1908, p. 186. In no case shall male and female nor white and 
colored convicts be allowed to sleep in the same apartment, or where 
they can have access to each other, and as far as practicable they 
must be worked separately. 



136 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Missouri 
1865 

Laws, 1864, p. 68. All persons of color claiming to be married and 
wishing to continue so, must be remarried. A list of the children 
shall be recorded by the reputed father and mother of children. 

Laws, 1864, p. 126. Strikes out word "white" from school laws and 
makes provision for the instruction of all children, provided they 
are sent to separate schools. (Law of 1846-1847, p. 103, forbade 
teaching negroes.) 

Constitution, 1865, Article IX. Section 2. Separate free public 
schools are required for white and negro children. The school fund 
must be appropriated in proportion to the number of children, with- 
out regard to color. 

Constitution, 1865, Article I. Section 3. No person on account of 
color shall be subjected in law to any other restraints or disquali- 
fications in regard to any personal rights than such as are laid 
upon others under like circumstances. 

1866 

General Statutes, 1866, p. 458. Section 2. All marriages between 
white persons and negroes are prohibited. Such marriages are abso- 
lutely void. 

1868 

Laws, 1868, p. 170. Separate school law repeated. (1869, Laws, 

p. 86 the same.) 

1875 

Constitution, Article VIII. Sections 2 et seq. All citizens are allowed 

the suffrage. 

Constitution, Article XI. Section 3. Separate free public schools 
shall be established for the education of children of African descent. 

1879 

Revised Statutes, 187Q. Section 1540. Persons having one-eighth or 
more negro blood are prohibited from marrying white persons. The 
penalty is two years in the penitentiary, or a fine not less than $100, 



Stale Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 137 

or imprisonment in county jail not less than three months, or both 
fine and imprisonment. A jury may determine the amount of negro 
blood from appearance. Such marriages are void. (See Revised 
Statutes, 1845, p. 729, prohibiting intermarriage.) 

1887 

Laws, 1887, p. 264. A school for negro children shall be established 
in a district where there are more than fifteen children of required 
age. Where there are less than fifteen children, they may attend 
school in any district where a separate school is maintained for negro 
children. (See also Revised Statutes, 1909, Section 10,795, anc l 
Laws, 1909, p. 770.) 

1889 

Laws, i88q, p. 226. Separate free schools shall be established for the 
education of children of African descent; and it shall hereafter be 
unlawful in the public schools of this State for any colored child to 
attend any white school, or for any white child to attend a colored 
school. 

1899 

Revised Statutes, i8qq. Sections 2919-2920. Descendants of colored 
persons dying intestate shall inherit, notwithstanding such descend- 
ants may have been slaves. 

1909 

Laws, 1909, p. 662. Marriages between white persons and negroes, 

or white persons and Mongolians are prohibited and absolutely 

void. 

Laws, p. S99- A State Industrial Home for Negro Girls is instituted. 



Montana 

1871 

Montana Territorial Laws, 1872, p. 627. Section 34. (Common School 
Law, 1 87 1, Chapter 88, Section 34.) The education of children of 
African descent shall be provided for in separate schools. Upon 
the written application of parents or guardians of at least ten such 



138 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

children a separate school shall be established, and the education 
of a less number may be provided for by the trustees in separate 
schools in any other manner, and the same laws, rules, and regula- 
tions which apply to schools for white children shall apply to schools 
for colored children. (Law repeated in Laws, 1874, p. 129, Section 
33, and Compiled Statutes of 1887, Section 1892.) 

1889 

Constitution, i88q, Article XI. Section 7. The public free schools 
of the State shall be open to all children and youths between the 
ages of six and twenty-one years. 

1895 

Montana C. and S., i8q$. Section i860. {Public School Lazv, 1805, 
Chapter 6, Article 8.) Every common school not otherwise pro- 
vided for by law, shall be open to the admission of all children. (No 
mention whatever of separate schools, or of African children.) 

1909 

Laws, 40, p. 57. Section 1. Every marriage hereafter contracted 
between a white person and a negro or a person of negro blood, or 
in part negro, shall be utterly null and void. 

Section 2. Same provision for a white person and Chinese. 

Section 3. Same provision for a white person and Japanese. 

Section 5. Any one solemnizing such a marriage is guilty of a 
misdemeanor; the penalty, a fine of $500, or imprisonment of one 
month, or both. 



Nebraska 

1857 

Session Laws, 1857, p. 107, Chapter 33. Section 1. No Indian, 

negro, mulatto, or black person is allowed to give testimony in any 

cause. 

1865 

Session Laivs, 1865, p. log. The marriage of a white person with a 
negro or a mulatto is illegal and void. Misdemeanor, punishable by 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 139 

a fine of not more than $100, or imprisonment in the county jail not 
more than six months, or both. (Revised Statutes, 1866, p. 254.) 

1866 

Constitution, Article VII. Free white males only are allowed the 
franchise. 

Revised Statutes, 1866, C. of C. P. Section 328. Every person of suf- 
ficient capacity to understand the obligation of an oath shall be 
competent to testify. Negroes and Indians who appear incapable 
of receiving just impressions of facts shall be incompetent to testify. 

1867 

Laws, 1867, p. 20. Strikes out "free white" from franchise require- 
ments. No denial of elective franchise by reason of race or color. 

1885 

Laws, 1883, p. jqj. (Civil rights.) All persons shall be entitled to 
full enjoyment of equal privileges of inns, public conveyances, bar- 
ber shops, theaters, and other places of amusement, subject only to 
the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable 
alike to every person. 

The penalty for violation of above by denying except for reasons 
by law applicable to all persons the full enjoyment of the accommo- 
dations, advantages, facilities, enumerated in the foregoing, is that 
such persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not 
less than $10, nor more than $25, and pay the costs of the prose- 
cution. 

1893 

Laws, 18Q3, p. 141. Civil Rights Law of 1885 amended. Adds 
"restaurants" after "inns." The penalty is changed to a fine of from 
$25 to $100, and payment of costs. 

I9II 

Statutes, 1 qi 1. Sectionjig6. Uponthedissolution or decree of nullity 
of a marriage prohibited on account of consanguinity or of any 
marriage between a white and a colored person, the issue of such 
marriage shall be deemed illegitimate. 



140 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Statutes, iqii. Section 4275. Marriages are void between a white 
person and one of one-quarter or more negro blood. 

1913 

Revised Statutes, 1913. Section 7893. Indians and negroes who 
appear to be incapable of receiving just impressions of facts respect- 
ing which they are examined, or of relating them intelligently and 
truly, shall be incompetent as witnesses. 



Nevada 

1861 

Laws, 1 86 1, p. 93. If any white man or woman intermarry with any 
black person, mulatto, Indian, or Chinese, it is a misdemeanor. 
The penalty is imprisonment in the State prison from one year to 
two years. Uniting such persons in marriage is a misdemeanor, 
punishable by imprisonment in the State prison from one to three 
years. 

If any white person lives and cohabits with any black person, 
Indian, or Chinese in a state of fornication each shall be fined from 
$500 to $100 or confined in the county jail from one to six months, 
or both. Fines shall be set apart for the common school fund. 

1864 

Constitution, 1864, Article II. Section 1. White males only are 
allowed the vote. 

1865 

Laws, 1864-1863, p. 426. Section 50. Negroes, Mongolians, and 
Indians shall not be admitted into public schools. The superin- 
tendent of public instruction may withhold from a school district 
all share of State school funds in such case. 

The Board of Trustees of any district may, if deemed advisable, 
establish a separate school for education of negroes, Mongolians, 
and Indians and use public school funds for the support of same. 

Laws, 1864-186$, p. 403. Negroes have right to testify if not either 
in favor of or against a white person. The credibility of such negro, 
black, or mulatto person shall be left entirely with the jury. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 141 

1866 

Revised Laws, 1866. Section 3128. No distinction shall be made in 
the construction or execution of these laws on account of race or 
color. (Homestead Laws.) 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 8q. Act to compel children to attend school. All 
children from eight to fourteen years of age shall attend schools. 
(No separate district or separate schools mentioned.) 

1912 

Revised Laws, IQI2. Section 65 14-65 17. It is unlawful for a person 
of Caucasian or white race to intermarry with any person of Ethio- 
pian or black race, Malay or brown race, Mongolian or yellow race, 
or Indian or red race, within the State. Such person is guilty of a 
gross misdemeanor. The minister, etc., who performs the ceremony 
of marriage shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

A white person who lives and cohabits with any black person, 
mulatto, Indian, or any person of Malay or brown, or Mongolian or 
yellow race, in a state of fornication, shall be fined not to exceed 
$500, nor less than $100, or confined in the county jail from six 
months to one year, or both. 



New Hampshire 
1694 

May 24, 16Q4, i Province Laws, $70. The same measure and same 
text as Act of May 14, 17 18, quoted, but the law was disallowed by 
the Queen, November 19, 1706, for certain reasons. 

1714 

May 15, 17 14, Chapter 16. Laws, 17 16 edition, p. 48; 1771 edition, 
p. 52. An Act to Prevent Disorders in the Night. "Whereas Great Dis- 
orders Insolencies & Burglaries are oft times Raised & committed 
in the Night time by Indian, Negro, & Molatto, Servants and 
Slaves; 

"Be it Enacted that Noe Indian, Negro, or Molatto, Servant or 
Slave may presume to be absent from the ffamilies where they 
Respectively belong or be found abroad in the Night time after 



142 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Nine a Clock; Unless it be upon Errand for their Respective Mas- 
ters or Owners." 

All officials and householders empowered to apprehend any such. 
Then to go to the House of Correction to receive the Discipline of 
the House, and then be dismissed back home; or where there is 
no House of Correction to be openly whipped not exceeding ten 
stripes. 

1716 

January 6, 1715-1716, Chapter 2. Laws, 1716 edition, p. 57; 1771 
edition, p. 57. No Innholder, Taverner, etc., shall suffer any appren- 
tice, servant, or Negro to sit drinking in the House or to have any 
manner of drink there without special order or allowance of their 
respective Masters, on pain of forfeiting the sum of ten shillings, for 
every such offence. 

1718 

May 14, 1718, Chapter 21. Laivs, 1716 edition, p. 91; 1771 edition, 
p. Q2. An Act for the Regulating of the Militia. Section 12. This act 
exempted from all military training certain state officials, ministers, 
elders, and deacons of churches, physicians, schoolmasters, etc., and 
Indians and negroes. Also disabled persons. 

May 14, 1718, Chapter 25. Laws, 1716 edition, p. 99; 1771 edition, 
p. 10 1. Act for restraining inhuman severities. 

The second section says: "If any Person shall wilfully kill his 
Indian or Negro Servant or Servants, he shall be Punished with 
Death." 

1792 

June, 1792. Repeal of law of 17 14 to "Prevent Disorders in the 
Night." 

June 20, 1792. Repeal of law of 1715-1716, January 6, as to negroes, 
etc., drinking in taverns. 

June 20, 1792. Repeal of law of May 14, 1718, "Act for restraining 
inhuman severities." 

1857 

Laws, 1857, Chapter 1955. Section 1. African descent shall not 

disqualify a person from becoming a citizen of the State. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 143 

New Jersey 
1702 

Laws, 1702, p. 640. When negroes are vended in New Jersey, an 

account of them shall be transmitted. 

Laws, 1702, p. 642. Negroes are to be converted and not murdered. 

1844 

Constitution, 1844, Article II. Section 1. White males only have the 
right of suffrage. 

1853 

Laws, 1833, p. 374. Section j. When any poor colored servant has 
a right to support from any person, or estate of a deceased, such 
servant may be removed in same manner as other paupers to the 
township where he last served. Nothing herein contained shall be 
deemed to exonerate any person or estate from liability to support 
such poor colored servant, and the town may recover all charges for 
support. 

I88l 

Laws, 188 1, p. 186. No children between the age of five and eight- 
een years of age shall be excluded from any public school in the 
State on account of his or her religion, nationality, or color. 

1884 

Public Laws, p. 339. Section 1. All persons are entitled to equal rights 
and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters 
and other places of public amusement, subject only to conditions 
applicable alike to citizens of every race and color regardless of any 
previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. Persons violating this act or aiding or inciting thereto 
must forfeit and pay to person aggrieved $500, also are guilty of 
misdemeanor; punishable by a fine not less than $500 nor more than 
$1,000, or imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more than 
one year. 

Section 3. No citizen possessing other qualifications shall be dis- 
qualified for service as grand or petit juror in any court of the State 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Any- 



144 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

one failing to summon or attempting to exclude any person because 
of race shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be fined not more 
than $5,000. 

1894 

Public Laws, 1894, p. 537. Provides for the examination by the State 

Superintendent of public instruction of the records of the Colored 

Industrial Education Association of New Jersey. 

Public Laws, 1894, p. 536. Provides for a manual training school for 

colored youth. 

1895 

Public Laws, 1895, p. 274. Militia. In addition to the force herein- 
before organized there shall be allowed four companies of colored 
infantry. 

1898 

Public Laws, 1898, p. 833. No cemetery association shall refuse to 
permit the burial of any deceased person therein because of the 
color of such deceased person. Any cemetery association offending 
is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

1902 

Public Laws, 1902, p. 441. No discrimination by insurance com- 
panies against persons wholly or partly of African descent is per- 
mitted. 

Insurance discrimination is forbidden in standard form (nothing 
as to certificate). The section is applicable only to contracts of insur- 
ance issued on lives of persons resident in this State at time applica- 
tion for such insurance shall be made. Nothing shall require an 
agent or company to take or receive the application for insurance of 
any person or to issue a policy of insurance to any person. 

Each violation of act to be punishable by a fine of $500 and costs. 
Half of penalty to be paid by Commissioner of Banking and Insur- 
ance to the local firemen's relief association, the other half to use of 
State. 

1903 

Public Laws, 1903 (Second Sp. Session), p. 48. No child between 
the age of four and twenty years shall be excluded from any public 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 1 45 

school on account of religion, nationality, or color. A member of 
any board of education who shall vote to exclude from any public 
school such child on account of religion, nationality, or color shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine of not less than 
$50 nor more than $250, or by imprisonment in county jail, work- 
house, or penitentiary for not less than thirty days or more than 
six months, or by both. 

Public Laws, IQ03 {Second Sp. Session), p. 76. A normal training 
and industrial school for colored youth is provided for. It shall be 
hereafter conducted by the State Board of Education. Tuition 
shall be free. 



New Mexico 

1850 

Organic Act, 1S50. Section 6. Free white persons only are given the 
franchise. 

1857 

Laws, 1856-185/, p. 48. No free negroes shall come to this Terri- 
tory for the purpose of establishing themselves here, for a time 
exceeding thirty days. Attempt so to do is punishable by from $50 
to $100 fine and moreover by a sentence to hard labor in the peni- 
tentiary from one year to two years. 

Section 2. If they refuse to leave after complying with terms of 
sentence, they shall have hard labor in penitentiary from two to 
four years. 

Section 3. If any negro or mulatto shall marry or cohabit with 
any woman of the white race, he is liable to a penalty of hard labor 
in penitentiary from two to three years. This shall not affect free 
negroes or mulattoes married before Act. 

Section 4. If any woman of the white race marry or cohabit with 
any free negro or mulatto, she is liable as in the preceding section. 
Any minister, etc., solemnizing the prohibited matrimonies is liable 
to from $100 to $200 fine. 

Section 5. An owner setting free any negro must transport same 
beyond limits of territory within thirty days. From $100 to $500 
fine for violation. 



146 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Section 6. A free negro or mulatto now residing in territory, must 
give bond for good conduct, or else be liable to penalties of Section 1. 

1866 

Laws, 1863-1866, p. 90. Act of January 29, 1857, concerning free 

negroes is hereby repealed. (Repeal includes section prohibiting 

intermarriage.) 

19OI 

Laws, 1901, p. 147. Section 1. Any teachers, school directors, or 
members of any board of education connected with the common 
schools in this State who shall refuse to receive any pupil at a school 
on account of race or nationality, the said pupil being entitled to 
attend, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by a fine 
from $50 to $100 and imprisonment in county jail for three months, 
and shall be forever barred from teaching school or from holding 
any office of honor or profit in this territory. 

Section 2. The superintendent of the county is required sum- 
marily to remove from office or employment any person violating 
the provisions of previous section ; upon his failure to do so he shall 
be removed from his office by the superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, who is empowered to fill said vacancy. 

191 1 

Constitution, 191 1, Article VII. Section 3. Elective Franchise. 
The right of any citizen of the State to vote, hold office, or sit upon 
juries, shall never be restricted, abridged, or impaired on account 
of religion, race, language, or color, or inability to speak, read, or 
write the English or Spanish languages, except as may be otherwise 
provided in this Constitution; and the provisions of this Section 
and of Section 1 of this article shall never be amended except upon 
a vote of the people of this State in an election at which at least 
three-quarters of the electors voting in the whole State and at least 
two-thirds of those voting in each county of the State, shall vote 
for such amendment. 

Constitution, 1 91 1, Article XII. Section 1. Education. Free public 
schools open to all the children of school age in the State shall be 
established and maintained. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 147 

Section 10. Children of Spanish descent in the State of New Mexico 
shall never be denied the right and privilege of admission and atten- 
dance in the public schools or other public educational institutions 
of the State, and they shall never be classed in separate schools, 
but shall forever enjoy perfect equality with other children in all 
public schools and educational institutions of the State. 



New York 
1777 

Constitution, 1777, Article VII. Every male inhabitant of full age, 
etc., is entitled to vote. 

1813 

Laws, 36th Session, p. 247. (Van Ness & Woodworth.) Chapter 41, 
Section 8. Voter to be freeholder, etc. 

Section II. Whenever any black or mulatto person shall present 
himself to vote, he shall produce a certificate of his freedom. 

Section 12. Every black or mulatto residing in the state may 
make proof of his freedom before a judge, etc., and a written cer- 
tificate shall be issued by the judge, etc. 

1814 

Laius, 37th Session, p. 84. A certificate of freedom shall be required 
to be produced at all elections in the city and county of New York. 
and without it no black or mulatto person shall be permitted to vote. 

1814-1815 

Laws, 1814-1815, p. 22. The Governor of the State is authorized 
to raise two regiments of free men of color, for the defense of State, 
for three years unless sooner discharged. Each regiment shall con- 
sist of 1,080 men. They shall be formed into a brigade. All com- 
missioned officers of the regiments in the brigade shall be white men. 

I82I 

Constitution, 1821, Article II. Section 1. The following are entitled 
to vote: "Every male citizen, an inhabitant of the State one year 
preceding any election, and shall have within the year next pre- 
ceding the election paid a tax to the State or county, assessed upon 



148 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

his real or personal property; or shall by law be exempted from 
taxes, etc., and also every male citizen three years next preceding 
the election an inhabitant of the State, and shall have within the last 
year been assessed to labor upon public highways, or paid the 
equivalent; but no man of color, unless he shall have been for three 
years a citizen of this State, and for one year next preceding any 
election shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value 
of $250, over and above all debts and incumbrance charged thereon, 
shall be entitled to vote at any election. And no person of color 
shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and 
possessed of such real estate as aforesaid." 

1824 

Laws, 1824, Chapter 177. No negro or mulatto shall vote in the 
councils of the Stockbridge Indians. 

1833 

Article II, Section 1 of Constitution. Amended by Amendment No- 
li in 1833, making it as appears in 1846 Constitution, given below. 

1845 

Laws, 1845, p. 327. The Mayor and common council of Brooklyn are 
authorized as they may deem expedient, to lay out school districts 
for colored children in City of Brooklyn. All provisions of law 
relating to common schools, etc., shall apply. 

1846 

Constitution, 1S46, Article II. Section 1. Every male citizen, an in- 
habitant of the State for one year next preceding any election, shall 
be entitled to vote. But no man of color, unless three years a citizen 
of the State, and for one year next preceding the election possessed of 
a freehold estate of the value of $250 over and above all debts and 
encumbrances, and shall have been actually rated and paid a 
tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote, and no person of color shall 
be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed 
of such real estate as aforesaid. 

1847 

Laws, 1847, Volume II, p. 527. Incorporating the New York Soci- 
ety for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children. It 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 149 

may establish schools for colored children from four to sixteen 
years of age. The income of the society shall not exceed $10,000. 
The schools shall be under direction of the board of education of the 
city of New York but under the immediate government of the cor- 
poration. They shall participate in apportionment of school moneys 
from the school fund in like manner and to same extent as for schools 
of the public school society. 

Laws, 1847, p. 714. Section 417. Separate colored schools may be 
established in any town or city of the state. They shall be under the 
charge of the school trustees of the school district. They shall divide 
the school money with the other schools in proportion to the number 
of respective pupils. 

1852 

Laws, 1852, p. 4jo. The people of the village of Canandaigua are 
authorized to establish a school for education of colored children of 
village exclusively. Provisions as to levying tax for same. The 
school under the control of the village trustees. No colored children 
shall be allowed to attend the school kept in any school district in 
Canandaigua except the colored school, without permission of all 
trustees of such school district. 

1864 

Laws, 1864, Chapter 555, p. 1211. An Act to consolidate the gen- 
eral acts relating to public institutions. 

Title X, p. 1 28 1. Schools for colored children. Section 1. School 
authorities of any city or village may, when deemed expedient, 
establish a separate school for the instruction of children of African 
descent of five to twenty-one years of age. It shall be supported in 
same manner and subject to same rules and regulations as white 
schools. 

Section 3. Only legally qualified teachers shall be employed for 
such schools. 

1868 

Constitution, 1868, Article II. Section 1. Every male inhabitant of 
the state shall be entitled to vote, etc. (No reference to persons of 
color.) 



150 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1870 

Laws, 1870. I, p. Q22. (Repeal of property qualification.) Repeals 
all laws requiring of a colored man offering to vote any different 
oath from that required for a white man, or requiring different ques- 
tions or answers. 

It is not lawful for registers, or officers of election, to reject a 
name from registry, or the vote, of any colored man, except for 
causes making it their duty to reject the name or the vote of a 
white man. Penalty, a misdemeanor with a fine of $500 and six 
months' imprisonment. 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 303. No citizen of the State shall by reason of race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude be excepted or excluded 
from full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations furnished by 
innkeepers, by common carriers, whether on land or water, by 
licensed owners, managers or lessees of theaters, or other places of 
amusement, by trustees, commissioners, superintendents, teachers 
and other officers of common schools and public institutions of 
learning, and by cemetery associations. 

Section 2. Violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by $50 to $500 
fine. 

Section 3. Discrimination against any citizen on account of color 
by the use of the word "white" or any other term in any law, statute, 
ordinance, or regulation now existing in this State is repealed and 
annulled. 

I88l 

Laws, 1 88 1, Chapter 400, p. 541. No person shall be denied full and 
equal enjoyment of accommodations, advantages, facilities, and 
privileges of all hotels, taverns, restaurants, public conveyances on 
land and water, theaters and other places of public resort or amuse- 
ment, because of race, creed, or color. Denying because of race, 
creed, or color, or aiding or inciting thereto every offense is a mis- 
demeanor and punished accordingly. 

1891 

Laws, i8qi, Chapter no, p. 288. No life insurance company doing 
business within this State shall make any distinction or discrimi- 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 1 5 1 

nation between white persons and colored persons, wholly or par- 
tially of African descent, as to premiums or rates charged for policies 
upon lives, nor demand a greater premium from such colored per- 
sons than is at that time required from white persons of same age, 
sex, general condition of health and prospect of longevity; nor 
require any rebate or discount upon amount to be paid in case of 
death of such colored persons insured, nor insert in a policy any 
condition whereby such person insured shall bind himself or his 
heirs to accept any sum less than full value of policy, other than 
imposed on white persons in similar cases, and any such condition 
or stipulation shall be void. Violation is a misdemeanor, punishable 
by fine from $50 to $500. 

1893 

Laws, 1893, Volume 2, Chapter 692, p. 1720. An Act amending the 
penal code in a number of ways. Repeats both 1873 and 1881 
Civil Rights laws, as Section 1 (1873) and Section 2 (1881). Penalty, 
$50 to $500 fine. 

1894 

Laws, 1894, p. 1288. {Consol.SchoolLaw,p.i8u.) Article II. Schools 
for colored children. Same as 1864 law, in substance. Adds neiv para- 
graph. Section 31. The colored schools in city of New York, now 
existing and in operation, shall be classed and continued as ward 
schools and primaries and shall be open for education of pupils for 
whom admission is sought, without regard to race or color. 

Only qualified teachers shall be employed. No person shall be 
employed to teach any of such schools who shall not, at the time of 
such employment, be legally qualified. 

1895 

Laws, 1895, Vol. I, Chapter 1042, p. 974. {Civil Rights Law, Article 
IV, Section 46). Section 1. Equal rights in places of public accom- 
modation or amusement. All persons shall be entitled to the full 
and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of 
inns, restaurants, hotels, eating-houses, bath-houses, barber shops, 
theaters, music-halls, public conveyances on land and water, and 
all other places of public accommodation or amusement, subject 



1 52 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

only to conditions and limitations established by law and applicable 
alike to all citizens. 

Section 2. {Section 41). Penalty for violation: Any person who 
shall violate any of the provisions except for reasons applicable 
alike to all citizens of every race, creed, or color, and regardless of 
race, creed, or color, by denying the full enjoyment of any of the 
accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges in said section 
enumerated, or by aiding such denial, shall for every such offense 
forfeit and pay not less than $100 nor more than $500 to the person 
aggrieved thereby, and shall also be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $100 nor 
more than $500, or shall be imprisoned not less than thirty days nor 
more than ninety days, or both. 

Section 3. No citizen of the State possessing all other qualifica- 
tions, shall be disqualified to serve as grand or petit juror in any 
court on account of race, creed, or color. Any person charged with 
any duty in the selection or summoning of jurors, failing to summon 
any individual for the cause aforesaid, is guilty of a misdemeanor 
and may be fined $100 to $500, or imprisoned from thirty to ninety 
days, or both. (See Consol. Laws, 1909, Vol. I, p. 313.) 

1899 

Laws, i8qq, Volume II, Chapter 724, p. 1556. Penal code amended 
by inserting Section 383a. Discrimination, when prohibited. If a 
person who owns, occupies, manages, or controls a building, park, 
enclosure, or other place, opens same to public generally at stated 
periods or otherwise, he shall not discriminate against any person 
or class of persons in the price charged for admission thereto. Viola- 
tion of this act is a misdemeanor. 

1900 

Laws, iqoo, Volume II, Chapter 4Q2, p. 1173. An Act to secure 
equal rights to colored children in State of New York, and to repeal 
1894, Chapter 556, Article II, Section 28. 

Section 1. No person shall be refused admission into or be ex- 
cluded from any public school in the State of New York on account 
of race or color. 

Section 2. Repeals previous separation law of 1864. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 153 

1910 

Education law ( Volume VIII of Consol. Laws, 1910) , A rticle XXX VI, 
p. 200. Section 920. No exclusion on account of race or color. 
No person shall be refused admission into or be excluded from any 
public school in the State of New York on account of race or color. 
(See 1900 Law.) 

Section 921. Provisions for separate schools. The trustees of 
any union school district, or of any school district organized under 
a special act, may, when the inhabitants of any district shall so 
determine, by resolution, at any annual meeting, or at a special 
meeting called for that purpose, establish separate schools for in- 
struction of colored children resident therein, and such school shall 
be supported in the same manner and receive the same care, and be 
furnished with same facilities for instruction, as the white schools 
therein. (See 1894 Law.) 

1913 

Laws, 1 913, p. 1405. Authorized an Emancipation Proclamation 

Commission of nine members to arrange in the City of New York an 
exhibition and celebration to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary 
of the Emancipation Proclamation. Authorized a full exhibit to 
show the progress of the colored people since the Emancipation 
Proclamation. Appropriation of $25,000. 

Laws, 1 91 3, p. 2201. Section 1. Laws of 1909, Chapter 41, Article 
II, Military Law, Chapter 36 of Consolidated Laws, p. 2333, 
amended by adding new section, to be section 40. 

Section 40. Colored Regiment of Infantry. Within three months 
after this section takes effect, the adjutant general shall organize 
and equip a colored regiment of infantry in the City of New York. 
Such regiment when organized and equipped shall become a part 
of the national guard of the State of New York, and subject to all 
the statutes, rules, and regulations governing such national guard. 
The officers of such regiment shall be commissioned by the governor 
subject to the provisions of this chapter in relation to eligibility and 
examination. The armory board of the City of New York shall 
provide quarters for such regiment. 

(A different Section 40 was added by Laws, 191 1, Chapter 285, 
p. 685, and amended by Laws, 1915, p. 1217. This different Sec- 
tion 40 relates to Aides.) 



154 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laws, IQ13, p. 481. Act to amend Civil Rights Law, Chapter 6 of 
Consolidated Laws (Laws, 1895, Vol. I, p. 974), to read as follows: 

Section 1. Section 40 is amended to read as follows: 
Section 40. All persons are entitled to the full and equal accommo- 
dations of any place of public accommodation, resort, or amuse- 
ment, subject only to conditions and limitations established by law 
and applicable alike to all persons. No person, being the owner, lessee, 
proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent, or employee of any 
such place, shall directly or indirectly refuse, to any person, any 
of the accommodations thereof, or directly or indirectly publish, 
circulate, issue, display, post, or mail any written or printed commu- 
nication, notice, or advertisement to the effect that any of the accom- 
modations of any such place shall be refused to any person on 
account of race, creed, or color, or that the patronage or custom 
thereat of any person belonging to any particular race, creed, or 
color is unwelcome, objectionable, or not acceptable, desired, or 
solicited. The production of any such written or printed com- 
munication, notice, or advertisement purporting to relate to any 
such place and to be made by any person being the owner or man- 
ager thereof, shall be presumptive evidence in any civil or criminal 
action that the same was authorized by such person. A place of 
public accommodation, resort, or amusement shall be deemed to 
include any inn, tavern, or hotel, whether conducted for the enter- 
tainment of transient guests, or for the accommodation of those 
seeking health, recreation, or rest, any restaurant, eating house, 
public conveyance on land or water, bath house, barber shop, 
theater, and music hall. Nothing herein contained shall be con- 
strued to prohibit the mailing of a private communication in 
writing sent in response to a specific written inquiry. 

Section 2. Section 41 is amended to read as follows: 
Section 41. The penalty for violation, or aiding or inciting viola- 
tion of any of said provisions, is a forfeit from $100 to $500, to be 
recovered by the person aggrieved or by any resident of this State to 
whom such person shall assign his cause of action; and the offender 
shall also be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of 
$100 to $500, or imprisonment from thirty days to ninety days, 
or both. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 155 

1915 

Laws, 191 5, p. 2351. Historical and Industrial Exposition. The 
Governor was authorized to appoint five commissioners for the State 
of New York for the National Exposition at Richmond, Virginia, 
July and August, 1915, under the auspices of the National Histori- 
cal and Industrial Association, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary 
of Emancipation. 

The commissioners were directed to gather an exhibit reflecting 
the thought and genius of the negroes of New York. 



North Carolina 
1866 

Laws, 1866, Chapter 40. Section 5. Persons formerly slaves, who 
have complied with provisions of Act of March 10, 1866, are deemed 
lawfully married. 

1868 

Laws, 1868, p. 35. White and colored members of the detailed 
militia shall not be compelled to serve in same companies. 
Constitution, 1868, Article VI. Section 1. Removed limitation of 
suffrage to white persons. 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 587. Marriages between a white person and a negro 
or Indian, or a white person and a person of negro or Indian descent 
to third generation inclusive, are void. No marriage followed by 
cohabitation and birth of issue shall be declared void after death 
of either of the parties for any of causes stated, except for that one 
of the parties was a white person and the other a negro or Indian, 
or of negro or Indian descent to third generation inclusive, and for 
bigamy. (See Laws, 1834, Chapter 24, and Laws, 1838, p. 33.) 

1874 

Laws, 1874-1875, p. 92. No white children shall be bound as 

apprentices to colored masters or mistresses. 



156 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1875 

Constitution, 1875, Article IX. Section 3. Children of the white race 

and children of the colored race shall be taught in separate public 

schools, but there shall be no discrimination made in favor of, or 

to the prejudice of, either race. 

Constitution, 1875, Article XIV. Section 8. All marriages between 

a white person and a negro or between a white person and a person of 

negro descent to third generation inclusive, are hereby forever 

prohibited. 

1876-1877 

Laws, 1876-1877, p. 438. The State Board of Education may estab- 
lish normal schools for young men of the white race. It may also 
establish a normal school for young men of the colored race, to be 
teachers in the schools of the colored race. Students shall be ex- 
pected to teach not less than three years after leaving school. A 
preparatory department may also be established. 

1877 

Laws, 1876-1877, p. 58Q. "Whereas, In the providence of God, 
the colored people have been set free, and this is their country and 
their home, as well as that of the white people, and there should be 
nothing to prevent the two races from dwelling together in the land 
in harmony and peace; 

"Whereas, We recognize the duty of the stronger race to uphold 
the weaker, and that upon it rests the responsibility of an honest 
and faithful endeavor to raise the weaker race to the level of intelli- 
gent citizenship; and 

"Whereas, The colored people have been erroneously taught that 
legislation under Democratic auspices would be inimical to their 
rights and interests, thereby causing a number of them to entertain 
honest fears in the premises, 

"The General Assembly of North Carolina do resolve, That, 
while we regard with repugnance the absurd attempts, by means 
of 'Civil Rights' Bills, to eradicate certain race distinctions, im- 
planted by nature and sustained by the habits of forty centuries; 
and while we are sure that good government demands for both 
races alike that the great representative and executive offices of 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 157 

the country should be administered by men of the highest intelli- 
gence and best experience in public affairs, we do, nevertheless, 
heartily accord alike to every citizen, without distinction of race 
or color, equality before the law. 

"Resolved, That we recognize the full purport and intent of 
that amendment to the Constitution of the United States which 
confers the right of suffrage and citizenship upon the people of color, 
and that part of the Constitution of North Carolina conferring 
educational privileges upon both races: that we are disposed and 
determined to carry out in good faith these as all other constitu- 
tional provisions." 

1879 

Laws, 1879, Chapter 73. Children of colored parents born before 
January 1, 1868, of persons living together as man and wife, are 
declared legitimate children of the parents or either one of them. 

1885 

Laws, 1885, Chapter 51. Section 2. p. 92. The persons residing in 
Robeson and Richmond counties, supposed to be descendants of a 
friendly tribe once residing in eastern portion of State, known as 
Croatan Indians, shall be knowm and designated as Croatan Indians. 
They and their descendants shall have separate schools for their 
children and there shall be excluded from such separate schools for 
the Croatan Indians all children of the negro race to the fourth 
generation. 

1887 

Public Laws, 1887, p. 499. (Amending the provision that all 
marriages between an Indian and a negro shall be void.) Amended 
by adding "Provided this act shall only be applicable to the Croatan 

Indians." 

1889 

Laws, 1889, Chapter 169. Section 17. No white child shall be bound 
to any other than a white person, and no negro child shall be bound 
to any white person, if a competent and suitable negro can be found 
in the county who desires such child bound to him. 



1 58 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1899 

Laws, i8qq, Chapter 384, p. 539. All railroad companies and steam- 
boat companies engaged as common carriers, other than street 
railways, shall provide separate but equal accommodations for the 
white and colored races on all passenger trains and steamboats 
carrying passengers. Such accommodations may be furnished by 
railroad companies either by separate passenger cars or by com- 
partments in passenger cars, which shall be provided by the rail- 
roads under the supervision and direction of the Board of Railroad 
Commissioners. These requirements shall not apply to relief trains 
in cases of accident, to Pullman or sleeping cars or through express 
trains that do not stop at all stations and are not used ordinarily 
for travelling from station to station, to negro servants in attend- 
ance on their employers, to officers or guards transporting pris- 
oners, or to prisoners so transported. 

Section 2. The railroad commissioners are authorized to exempt 
branch lines and narrow guaged railroads, if in their judgment 
enforcement of this act is unnecessary to secure the comfort of pas- 
sengers, by reason of light passenger traffic or small number of 
colored passenger travellers on such narrow guaged or branch 
lines. 

Section 3. When a car or a compartment of a car for either race is 
completely filled at a station where no extra car can be had, and the 
increased number of passengers could not be foreseen, the conductor 
is authorized to assign a portion of the car or of the compartment for 
one race to passengers of the other race. 

Section 4. All railroad companies shall furnish first and second 
class passenger accommodations. 

Section 5. A company failing to comply with this act shall be 
fined $100 per day, each day to be a separate offense, to be recovered 
in action brought by any passenger on any train or steamboat who 
has been furnished accommodations only in a car or compartment 
with a person of a different race, in violation of the provisions of 
this act. 

I9OI 

Public Laws, 1901, p. 64. In determining the right of any child to 
attend the schools of either race, the rule laid down in Section 18 10 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 159 

of the Code, regulating marriages, shall be followed. (Provision of 
Constitution of 1875, X IV, 8.) 

Public Laws, iqoi, p. 351. Amendment to Law of 1899. Struck out 
word "passenger," in passenger trains, etc., making it read "all trains 
and steamboats carrying passengers." Inserted in Section 2, after 
"railroads" "and mixed trains carrying both freight and passen- 
gers." Added at end of the sentence, "and mixed passengers." 

1903 

Laws, iqoj, p. 756. Section 22. All white children shall be taught 
in schools for the white race (and vice versa), but no child with negro 
blood in its veins, however remote the strain, shall attend a school 
for the white race, and no such child shall be considered a white 

child. 

1907 

Public Laws, 1907, p. 1238. All street, interurban, and suburban 
railway companies shall set apart so much of the front portion of each 
car as necessary for occupation by white passengers, and so much 
of the rear portion as necessary for occupation by colored passengers, 
and shall require as far as practicable the white and colored pas- 
sengers each to occupy the respective part of car so set aside. 

Section 2. Any white person entering a street car to become 
a passenger shall, if necessary to carry out the purposes of this act, 
occupy the first vacant seat in the aisle nearest the front of the car, 
and a colored person the first vacant seat nearest the rear end of said 
car. Provided, no contiguous seats on the same bench shall be 
occupied by the white and colored passengers at the same time 
unless or until all other seats are occupied. 

Section 5. Any officer violating Section 1 is guilty of a misde- 
meanor and may be fined or imprisoned in the discretion of the court. 

Section 6. Any person violating Section 2 is guilty of a mis- 
demeanor and may be fined not more than $50 or imprisoned not 
more than thirty days. He may be ejected by the conductor or 
other agents charged with operation of the car, who are hereby 
invested with police powers to carry out the provisions of this act. 

Section 7. This act shall not apply to colored nurses of white chil- 
dren, while in attendance upon such children then in their charge, 
or to a colored attendant in charge of a sick or infirm white person. 



160 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Section 8. Such companies shall not be liable for a mistake in the 
designation of any passenger to a seat set apart for the other race. 

1908 

Revisal, iqo8. Section 4086. Children of the white race and children 
of the colored race shall be taught in separate public schools, but 
there shall be no discrimination in favor of either race. All white 
children shall be taught in the public schools provided for the white 
race, and all colored children shall be taught in the public schools 
provided for the colored race, but no child with negro blood in his 
veins, however remote the strain, shall attend a school for the white 
race; and no such child shall be considered a white child. The 
descendants of the Croatan Indians shall have separate schools for 
their children. 

1909 

Public Laws, 1909, p. 121 5. White and colored persons shall not 
be confined and shackled together in the same room of any building 
or tent either in the state penitentiary or at any state or county con- 
vict camp during eating or sleeping hours, and at all other times 
separation of the two races shall be as complete as practicable. Any 
officer violating the above provision shall be guilty of misdemeanor 
and fined not more than $50 or imprisoned not more than thirty days. 
Public Laws, 1909, p. 1256. Amending Public Laws, 1907, Chapter 
850. The act strikes out all of Section 7 after the word "to" in line 
one, and adds the words: "Nurses or attendants of children or of 
sick or of infirm of a different race, while in attendance upon such 
children, sick, or infirm persons." 

I9II 

Public Laws, 1911, p. 286. A Reform and Manual Training School 
for Colored Youths is authorized for the training and the moral and 
industrial development of the criminally delinquent colored children 
of the State under sixteen years of age. 

1915 

Public Laws, 1915, p. 355. In every public and private hospital, 
sanatorium, and institution in North Carolina where colored pa- 
tients are admitted for treatment and where nurses are employed, 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 161 

it shall be mandatory upon the management of every such hospital, 
sanatorium, and institution to employ colored nurses to care for 
and wait upon said colored patients. 

Section 2. Every person, firm, or corporation violating the pro- 
visions of this act is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction 
shall be fined $50 for each and every offense. 



North Dakota 
1867-1868 

Laws of Dakota Territory, 1867-1868, p. 255. The word "white" 
was removed from the qualifications for suffrage. 



Ohio 
1804 

Acts, 1803-1804, p. 63. An act to regulate black and mulatto per- 
sons. 

No black or mulatto person is permitted to reside in the state 
without a certificate of his freedom. He must register in the county 
clerk's office. An employer cannot hire any blacks or mulattoes 
unless they have a certificate from the county clerk. 

I 806-I 807 

Laws, 1S06-1807, p. 53. Section I. A negro or mulatto is not per- 
mitted to settle in the State without filing bond for good behavior. 
Section 4. No black or mulatto is to give evidence where either 
party to the cause is a white person. 

1829 

Laws, 182Q, p. 72. Act to provide for the support and better regu- 
lation of common schools. 

Section 1. A fund shall hereafter be raised for the use of common 
schools, for the instruction of youth of every class and grade without 
distinction, in reading, writing, arithmetic and other necessary 
branches of a common education. Provided that nothing in this act 
contained shall be so construed as to permit black or mulatto per- 
sons to attend the schools hereby established, or to compel them to 



1 62 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

pay any tax for support of such schools; but all taxes assessed on 
their property, for school purposes, shall be appropriated as the 
trustees of the several townships may direct, for the education of 
said black and mulatto persons therein, and for no other purpose, 
whatever. 

1834 

Laws, 18J4, p. 22. Provisions as to recording certificates of color. 

1837 

Laws, 1837-1838, p. 21. {School Act.) A fund shall be provided for 

the education of all white youth in this state. 

Section 2. In the tax levied on taxable property, the property of 
black and mulatto persons is excepted. 

1838-1839 

Laws, 1838-1839, p. 61. {School Act.) All white youth over four 
and under twenty-four years of age shall have equal privileges in 
all common schools in the state. 

I 847-I 848 

Laws, 1847-1848, p. 81. An act to provide for the establishment of 
common schools for the education of children of black and mulatto 
persons. Property of black and colored persons shall be taxed for 
schools for black or colored persons; but in any district in which the 
children of black and colored persons are permitted to attend the 
common schools with the children of white persons, then such 
fund is to be added to the common school fund of district. 

Section 2. In a district with twenty black or colored children, it 
is lawful for colored persons to organize a district, to appoint school 
directors of their own number, and to erect a schoolhouse, etc. 

Section 5. Where less than twenty black or colored children are 
desirous of attending school, the school directors shall admit said 
children into schools for white children, provided no written objec- 
tion be filed with the directors. 

Section 6. If the white inhabitants will not permit them to attend 
the schools for white children, no black or colored person's property 
shall be taxed for school purposes. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 163 

Section g. Property of white persons shall not be taxed for schools 
for black or colored children contrary to the wishes of such tax- 
payers. 

I 848-I 849 

Laws, 1848-184Q, p. 17. An act to authorize establishment of sepa- 
rate schools for education of colored children. 

Section 1. The trustees of townships, etc., in case they shall not 
deem it expedient to admit the colored children into the regular 
common schools, are authorized and required to create school 
districts for colored persons. 

Section 2. They shall call a meeting of colored tax-payers to 
organize for school purposes. 

Section 6. Repeals Act of February 24, 1848 (Laws, 1 847-1 848, 
p. 81), for black schools, and Act of January 5, 1804 (Acts, 1803- 
1804, p. 63), to regulate black and mulatto persons, and acts 
amending the same of January 5, 1807 (Laws, 1806-1807, p. 53), and 
February 27, 1834 (Laws, 1834, P- 2I )- 

1851 

Constitution, 1851, Article V. Section 1. White males only are 

allowed the franchise. 

1852 

Laws, 1852, p. 42Q. (Act to provide for reorganization of common 
schools), p. 441. Township boards of education in the state are 
required to establish separate schools for colored children where 
more than thirty wish to attend school. Such schools shall be under 
control and management of the board of education. Division of 
funds shall be made according to the number of children, regardless 
of color. 

I86l 

Laws, 1861, p. 6. Same as Laws, 1877, p. 277, statute against inter- 
marriage, except adding in each section "guilty of misdemeanor, 
and." (Original law.) 

1877 

Laws, 1877, p. 277. (See Laws, 186 1.) Section 1. A person of pure 

white blood, who intermarries, or has illicit carnal intercourse, with 



164 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

any negro or person having a distinct and visible admixture of 
African blood, and any negro, or person having a distinct and 
visible admixture of African blood, who intermarries, or has illicit 
carnal intercourse with any person of pure white blood, shall be 
fined not more than $100, or imprisoned not more than three 
months, or both. 

Section 2. A probate judge who knowingly issues a license for 
the solemnizing of any marriage made penal by this act is guilty 
of a misdemeanor; and every person who knowingly solemnizes 
any such marriage shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned 
not more than three months, or both. 

1878 

Laws, 1878, p. 513. Section 50. Each board of education shall 
establish schools for free education of youth of school age — and 
where in their judgment it may be for the advantage of the district 
to do so, they may organize separate schools for colored children. 

1881 

Revised Statutes, 1881. Section 7032a. A Sabbath desecration provi- 
sion prohibiting theatrical or other performances gives a long list 
including "Negro Minstrelsy." 

1884 

Laws, 1884, p. 15. Whereas it is essential to just government that 
we recognize and protect all men as equal before the law, and that 
a democratic form of government should mete out equal and exact 
justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color, persuasion, religion 
or politics; and it being the appropriate object of legislation to 
enact great fundamental principles into law, therefore. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly that all per- 
sons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of accommoda- 
tions, facilities and privilege of inns, public conveyances on land 
and water, theaters and other places of public amusement, subject 
only to conditions and limitations established by law, and applica- 
ble alike to citizens of every race and color. 

Section 2. For violating this act, or aiding or inciting thereto, 
there shall be a forfeit for each offense not to exceed $100 paid to the 
person aggrieved; also each offense shall be a misdemeanor, punish- 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 165 

able by a fine of not less than $100 or imprisonment not less than 
thirty days, or both. Judgment in favor of the party aggrieved, 
or punishment upon an indictment, shall be a bar to either prosecu- 
tion respectively. 

Section 3. No citizen possessing all other qualifications pre- 
scribed by law shall be disqualified to serve as grand or petit juror 
in any court of the state on account of race or color; and any officer 
selecting jurors who shall exclude or fail to summon any citizen 
for the cause aforesaid, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by 
a fine of not less than $100 or imprisonment not less than thirty 
days, or both. 

Laws, 1884, p. go. Section 1 of Act of 1884, p. 15, to protect all 
citizens in their civil and legal rights, is amended as follows: 

Section I. That all persons within the jurisdiction of said state 
shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommo- 
dations and privileges of inns, restaurants, eating-houses, barber- 
shops, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and all other 
places of public accommodation and amusement, subject only to 
the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable 
alike to all citizens. 

1887 

Laws, 1887, p. 34. Sections 4008 (Separate school law of 1878, p. 
513) and 6987 (Intermarriage law of 1877, p. 277, Section 1) and 
6988 (Intermarriage law of 1877, p. 277, Section 2) of the Revised 
Statutes of Ohio are hereby repealed. 

1889 

Laws, i88g, p. 163. No life insurance company shall make any dis- 
tinction or discrimination between white persons and colored per- 
sons wholly or partially of African descent, as to premiums or rates 
charged for policies upon the lives of such persons, nor shall any 
such company demand or require greater premiums from such 
colored persons than are at that time required by such company 
from white persons of the same age, etc., nor shall any such company 
make any rebate, diminution or discount upon the sum to be paid 
on such policy in case of the death of any colored person insured, 
nor insert in a policy any condition, nor make any stipulation 
whereby such person insured shall bind himself or his heirs to accept 



1 66 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

any sum less than the full value or amount of such policy, other 
than such as are imposed upon white persons in similar cases, and 
any such stipulation or condition so made or inserted shall be void. 

Section 2. Any such company refusing an application of a colored 
person for insurance upon life shall furnish a certificate of a regular 
examining physician of the company stating that such person's 
application has been refused, not because such person is a person 
of color, but solely on such grounds of the general health and hope 
of longevity of such person as would be applicable to white persons 
of the same age and sex. Any corporation or any officer or agent of 
any corporation violating the provisions of this act shall be fined 
from $100 to $200. 

Section 3. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to require 
any agent or company to take or receive the application for insur- 
ance of any person. 

1893 

Laws, 18Q3, p. 345. Discrimination between insurants of same class, 
etc., in premiums, benefits, or terms of contract, shall be punished 
by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500, or imprisonment 
not more than thirty days, or both. 

1894 

Laws, 18Q4, p. 17. Amending act of 1884 (February 7 and March 
27, Laws, 1884, p. 15, and p. 90) to read as follows: 

Section 2. Any person violating the provisions of the foregoing 
section by denying to any citizen, except for reasons applicable alike 
to all citizens of every race and color, and regardless of color or race, 
the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations enumerated, or by 
aiding or inciting such denial, for every offense shall forfeit to the 
person aggrieved from $50 to $500 to be recovered in any court of 
competent jurisdiction in the county where said offense was com- 
mitted, and shall also for every offense be found guilty of misde- 
meanor and fined from $50 to $500, or imprisoned from thirty to 
ninety days, or both, but one penalty shall be a bar to the other. 

Section 3. No citizen possessing other qualifications shall be dis- 
qualified to serve as grand or petit juror in any court on account 
of race or color, and any officer, excluding or failing to summon any 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 167 

citizen for the cause aforesaid, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable 
by a fine of from $50 to $500, or imprisonment from thirty to ninety 
days, or both. 



Oklahoma 
1890 

Statutes, 1890, Article XIII. Section 6464. An act establishing a 
system of public schools in the Territory of Oklahoma. 

Article 1 j. Separate schools. Separate schools may be established 
as follows. Each three years on the first Tuesday of April an election 
by school electors shall be held to vote for or against separate schools 
for white and colored children. 

1897 

Laws, 1897, p. 37. A Colored Agricultural and Normal University is 
authorized, for the instruction of male and female colored persons in 
the art of teaching. 

Laws, 1897, p. 266. {School Law.) Article 1. Separate schools. 

Section 1. Wherever there are eight colored children, there shall 
be a district formed. Where white children are in the minority 
there shall be separate schools for them. The taxes shall be pro- 
rated according to the number of children. 

Section 9. Hereafter it shall be unlawful for any white child to 
attend a school for colored children (or vice versa). (See also Laws, 
1901, p. 205, containing the same provision.) 

1907 

Constitution, 1907, Article ij. Section j. Separate schools for white 
and colored children with like accommodation shall be provided by 
the legislature and impartially maintained. 

Constitution, 1907, Article XXIII. Section 11. Wherever in the 
Constitution and laws of the state, the words "color" or "colored 
race," "negro" or "negro race" are used, they shall be construed to 
mean or apply to all persons of African descent. The term white 
race shall include all other persons. 



1 68 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laws, 1 907-1 908, p. 201. Every railway company, urban or sub- 
urban car company, street car or interurban car railway company, 
etc., shall provide separate coaches or compartments for the ac- 
commodation of the white and the negro races, equal in all points of 
comfort and convenience. 

Section 2. Every railroad company, street car company, urban 
or suburban or interurban car company shall provide for and 
maintain separate and equal waiting rooms at all passenger depots 
for the accommodation of the white and the negro races. Each wait- 
ing room shall have in a conspicuous place words in plain letters 
indicating the race for which it is set apart. It is unlawful to use or 
remain in any waiting room, toilet room, or use any water tank, in 
any passenger depot, set apart to a race to which one does not belong. 

Section 3. The term negro includes every person of African 
descent. 

Section 4. Each compartment of a railway coach divided by 
a good and substantial wooden partition with a door therein is 
deemed a separate coach. It shall bear in a conspicuous place appro- 
priate words indicating the race intended for, and each compartment 
of an urban or suburban car company, interurban car or railway 
company, divided by a board or marker, in a conspicuous place, 
bearing words in plain letters, indicating the race intended for, shall 
be sufficient as a separate compartment. 

Section 5. Violation of this act by any railway company, etc., is 
punishable by a fine of from $100 to $1,000. Each trip shall consti- 
tute a separate offense. 

Section 6. Violation of this act by a passenger is a misdemeanor, 
punishable by a fine of from $5 to $25. If a passenger refuses to 
occupy the proper place the company may refuse to carry him. 

Section 7. This act shall not apply to peace officers having in 
custody any person, or employees upon cars in discharge of duty, 
or freight trains carrying passengers in the caboose. Nothing shall 
prevent railway companies from hauling sleeping cars, dining or 
chair cars to be used exclusively by either white or negro passengers 
separately but not jointly. 

Section 8. This act shall be posted in a conspicuous place in each 
passenger depot and in each passenger coach. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro i(><» 

Section 9. This act shall not prevent the running of extra or 
special trains or cars, for the exclusive accommodation of either 
white or colored passengers. 

Section 10. Conductors of trains, street cars, urban, suburban, or 
interurban lines, have authority to refuse a person admittance to a 
compartment in which he is not entitled to ride, and power to re- 
move a passenger not entitled to ride. The refusal of the conductor 
to enforce separation is a misdemeanor, with $50 to $500 fine. 

Section 11. The fines shall go to the common school fund. 

Laws, IQO/-IQ08, p. 556. The marriage of any person of African 
descent as defined by the Constitution of this state, to any person 
not of African descent, shall be unlawful and is hereby prohibited 
within this state. 

Section 2. Violation of this provision is a felony punishable by a 
fine of not more than $500 and imprisonment from one to five years 
in the penitentiary. 

Laws, 1907-1908, p. 694. Section 1. The public schools of the 
state of Oklahoma shall be organized and mantained upon a com- 
plete plan of separation between the white and colored races with 
impartial facilities for both races. 

Section 2. The term "colored" as used in the first section shall be 
construed to mean all persons of African descent, who possess any 
quantum of negro blood, and the term "white" shall include all 
other persons. The term "public school" within the meaning of this 
act, shall include all schools provided for or maintained in whole 
or in part at public expense. 

Section 3. That wherever there shall be established and main- 
tained a separate school, a separate board of school officers shall 
be elected and chosen for the management of such school as is 
provided for by law for the election of other school officers. In 
districts having separate school buildings, the electors of each 
separate race shall meet as now provided by law at their respective 
schools for which said directors are to be elected and the electors 
of one race shall not participate in any election pertaining to the 
schools of the other race. 

Section 4. Any teacher in this state who shall willingly and 
knowingly allow any child of the colored race to attend a school 



170 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

maintained for the white race, or allow any white child to attend a 
school maintained for the colored race, shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum 
not less than $10 nor more than $50, and his certificate shall be 
cancelled and he shall not have another issued to him for a period 
of one year. 

Section 5. It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation or 
association of persons to maintain or operate any college, school, 
or institution in this state where persons of the white and colored 
races are both received as pupils for instruction, and any person 
or corporation who shall operate or maintain any such college, 
school, or institution in violation hereof, shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not 
less than $100 nor more than $500, and each day such school, 
college, or institution shall be open and maintained, shall be deemed 
a separate offense. 

Section 6. That any instructor who shall teach in any school, 
college, or institution, where members of the white race and colored 
race are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, 
shall be fined in any sum not less than $10 nor more than $50 for 
each offense, and each day any instructor shall continue to teach 
in any college, school, or institution shall be considered a separate 
offense. 

Section 7. It shall be unlawful for any. white person to attend 
any school, college, or institution where colored persons are re- 
ceived as pupils for instruction; and any one so offending shall 
be fined not less than $5 nor more than $20 for each offense, and 
each day such a person so offends as herein provided, shall be 
deemed a distinct and separate offense, provided that nothing in 
this act shall be so construed as to prevent any private school, 
college, or institution of learning from maintaining a separate or 
distinct branch thereof in a different locality. 

1910 

Laws, iqio, p. 208. Boards of county commissioners are authorized 
to sell real estate held for the purpose of separate or colored schools, 
where the same was not used. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 171 

1911 

Laws, iqii, p. 262. Amending 1907-1908, Chapter 15, Article I, 
Section 7 (Laws, 1 907-1908, p. 201, Section 7), to read as follows: 

"And provided further that the Corporation Commission shall 
have power and authority to except any station or depot from the 
requirements of the act for such period of time as may be ordered, 
in any city or town where no negroes reside." 



Oregon 

1 850-1 85 1 

Laws, 1850-1851, p. 181. (1S4Q, September 26). No negro or mu- 
latto shall come into the territory. If any such come on vessels, the 
owner or master of the vessel shall be responsible for his conduct and 
for his removing. The negro cannot leave the port of the vessel 
without the written permission of the master or owner. 

1854 

Laics, 1855, p. 551. The above law was repealed. 

1355 

Laws, 18SS, P- 130. No negro, mulatto, or Indian shall be allowed to 

testify in an action to which a white person is a party. 

1857 

Constitution, 1857, Article I. Section 35. No free negro or mulatto, 

not residing in state, shall come, reside, or be within this state, or 
hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit 
therein; and legislative assemblies shall provide by penal laws for 
his removal and effectual exclusion, and for the punishment of 
persons bringing, or employing, or harboring him. (Not formally 
repealed. Abrogated by Fourteenth Amendment.) 
Constitution, 1857, Article II. Section 6. No negro, Chinaman, or 
mulatto shall have the right of suffrage. 

1862 

Laws, 1862, p. 76. An annual poll tax of $5 is required from every 
negro, Chinaman, kanaka, or mulatto. If he fails to pay, he may 
be arrested and made to work on public highway. 



172 Stale Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Laws, 1862, p. 86. Marriage is prohibited when either party is a 
white person and the other a negro or a person of one-quarter or 
more of negro blood, and is absolutely void. 

1867 

Laws, 1867, p. 10. Section 1. (Lord's Oregon Laws, 1910, p. 945. 
Section 2163.) Hereafter it shall not be lawful for any white person 
to intermarry with any negro, Chinese, or any person having one- 
quarter or more negro, Chinese, or kanaka blood, or any person 
having more than one-half Indian blood. Such a marriage shall be 
absolutely null and void. 

Section 2. The penalty for such intermarriage shall be imprison- 
ment in the penitentiary or in the county jail for not less than three 
months nor more than one year. 

Section 3. The penalty for licensing, or for performing the cere- 
mony, for such a marriage, is imprisonment in the penitentiary or 
in the county jail for not less than three months nor more than 
one year, and a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000. 

1868 

Laws, 1868, p. 18. It is lawful for every white male citizen of the 

age of sixteen years to keep and carry arms. 

1872 

Statutes, 1872. Section 700. All persons who can perceive and make 

known their perceptions to others are given the right to testify. 



Pennsylvania 

1838 

Constitution, 1838, Article II. Section 1. White freemen are en- 
titled to vote. 

1854 

Laws, 1854, Approved May 8. Directors are required to establish 
within their respective districts separate schools for the tuition of 
negro and mulatto children, wherever there are twenty or more 
pupils; and wherever such separate schools shall be established 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 173 

and kept open four months in any year, the directors shall not be 
compelled to admit such pupils into any other schools of the dis- 
trict. Schools in cities or boroughs shall be provided for out of the 
general funds for educational purposes. (Repealed in 1881.) 

1867 

Laws, 1867, March 22, p. 38. Section 1. Any railroad or railway 
corporation that shall exclude any person on account of color or 
race, or that shall refuse to carry in any of their cars, set apart for 
passengers, any person or persons on account of race or color, or that 
shall for such reason, compel or attempt to compel any person or 
persons, to occupy any particular part of their cars, set apart for the 
accommodation of people as passengers, shall be liable, in an action 
of debt, to the person thereby injured or aggrieved, in the sum of 
$500; the same to be recovered in an action of debt, as like amounts 
are now by law recoverable. 

Section 2. Any agent or employee of any railroad who shall 
exclude, or allow to be excluded from any passenger cars, any per- 
son on account of color or race, or who shall refuse to carry such 
person on account of color or race, or who shall throw any car from 
the track, thereby preventing persons from riding, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall pay a fine not 
exceeding $500 nor less than $100, or be imprisoned for a term not 
exceeding three months, nor less than thirty days, or both. 

1869 

Laws, i860, p. 160. Persons of color shall not be admitted to the sub- 
district schools of Pittsburgh. (Repealed in 1872.) 

1870 

Laws, 1870, p. S3- Section 10. Every act providing that only white 
freemen are entitled to vote, is hereby repealed. Hereafter all 
freemen, without distinction of color, shall be enrolled and regis- 
tered, and shall when otherwise qualified vote at all elections. 

1872 

Laws, 1872, p. 1,048. Repealed law of 1869, p. 160, as to schools 
in Pittsburgh. 



174 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

l88l 

Laws, 1881, p. 76. Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any school 
director, superintendent, or teacher to make any distinction what- 
ever, on account of or by reason of the race or color of any pupil 
or scholar who may be in attendance upon, or seeking admission to, 
any public or common school, maintained wholly or in part under 
the school laws of this commonwealth. (Repealed law of 1854.) 

1887 

Laws, 1887, p. 130. Civil Rights Bill. Any person, or corporation, 
being the owner or manager of any restaurant, hotel, railroad, 
street-railway, omnibus line, theater, concert hall, or place of 
entertainment or amusement, who shall refuse to accommodate, 
convey, or admit any person on account of race or color, over their 
lines, or into their hotel, or restaurant, theater, concert-hall, or 
place of amusement, shall upon conviction thereof be guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine of not less than $50 and 
not more than $100. 



Rhode Island 
1798 

Revised Laws, 1798, 1822, 1852, 1857. Intermarriage forbidden. 

The marriage of a white person with a negro, Indian, or mulatto 
is absolutely null and void. Any person joining them in marriage is 
subject to a penalty of $200. 

1872 

Code, 1872, p. J25. Section 6. Prohibition of intermarriage. Pen- 
alty not over six months' imprisonment or $1,000 fine. 

I88l 

Acts, 1881 , p. 108. Repeal of the prohibition of intermarriage. 

1882 

General Laws, 1882, p. 755. No exclusion from school on account 
of race or color shall be allowed. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 175 

1885 

Laws, 1884-188$, p. 171. No person shall be debarred from the 
full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facil- 
ities, and privileges of any licensed inns, public conveyances on 
land or water, or from any licensed places of public amusement, on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Viola- 
tion of this act shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100. No 
citizen shall be disqualified for service as grand or petit juror in any 
court on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; 
and any officer who shall fail to select or summon any citizen for any 
of the causes aforesaid shall on conviction be fined not exceeding 
$100. 

South Carolina 
1865 

Acts, 1864-186$, p. 291. Section 8. Marriage between a white 

person and a person of color shall be illegal and void. 

Laws, 1865, p. 27$. Persons of color constitute no part of the militia 

of the state. 

Laws, 1865, p: 286. Negroes can testify in cases to which a person 

of color was a party. 

1866 

Acts, 1866, p. 393. An act to declare the rights of persons lately 
known as Slaves and Free Persons of Color. "Nothing herein shall 
be construed to repeal so much of the eighth section of the act rati- 
fied December 21, 1865, as enacts that "Marriage between a white 
person and a person of color shall be illegal and void." 

1868 

Constitution, 1868, Article X, Section 10. All the public schools, col- 
leges and universities of the state, supported in whole or in part by 
the public funds, shall be free and open to all the children and 
youths of the state, without regard to race or color. 
Constitution, 1868, Article I. Section 39. Distinction on account 
of race or color in any case whatever, shall be prohibited, and all 
classes of citizens shall enjoy equally all common, public, legal, and 



176 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

political privileges. (This included marriage, and rendered inter- 
marriage lawful. See below, Laws, 1879, p. 3.) 

1869 

Laws, 1869-1870, p. 279. It is not lawful for common carriers, or 
any party engaged in business for which a license is required by law, 
to discriminate on account of race or color, or previous condition. 
The penalty is a fine of $1 ,000 and also hard labor in the penitentiary 
for five years. If the fine is not paid, then imprisonment in the peni- 
tentiary at hard labor for not less than six years. 

The manager of a theater or place of amusement or recreation, 
if licensed or under any public rule, making discrimination, or refus- 
ing equal accommodation, on account of race, color or previous 
condition, is liable to $1,000 fine and imprisonment in the peniten- 
tiary for three years at hard labor. 

Such person shall never vote or hold any office. 

Every corporation or party holding any charter or license, violat- 
ing this act, shall forfeit the charter or license. If having forfeited 
it, they continue to operate under the same, a penalty is imposed of a 
fine of $1,000 and inprisonment in the penitentiary for three years. 

When charged with refusal to admit any person on account of 
race, color or previous condition, and the applicant is a colored or 
black person, the burden shall be on the defendant to show the same 
was not done in violation of this act. 

Solicitors of the state are specially charged vigorously to enforce 
this act. Failure to do so is a misfeasance in office, and such solicitor 
shall forfeit his office, be incapable of holding office for five years, and 
be fined $500. No solicitor nor the attorney general shall settle or 
enter a nol. pros, in cases under this act without consent of court. 

1870 

Laws, 1870, p. 338. Wherever authority has heretofore been con- 
ferred by law upon any free white person to institute any suit or 
proceedings, or to prefer any information or complaint in any 
matter, civil, penal, or criminal, the same rights shall be enjoyed 
by, and the same remedies applicable to, all persons whatsoever, 
regardless of race or color, subject to the same conditions, and to none 
others. 



Slate Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 177 

1872 

Laws, 1872, p. 183. All persons who, previous to their emancipa- 
tion, occupied the relation of husband and wife and who are cohabit- 
ing as such, or who recognize the relation as still existing, shall be 
deemed husband and wife. The children of such marriages shall be 
deemed legitimate. 

Laws, 1871-1872, pp. 162-163. Children of white fathers and negro 
mothers may inherit from the father if he did not marry another 
woman but continued to live with their mother. 

1873 

Revised Statutes, 1873. No mention of separate schools or the 

reverse. 

1879 

Laws, 1879, p. 3. Marriage between a white person and an Indian, 
negro, mulatto, mestizo, or half-breed shall be null and void, and 
of none effect. 

Such marriage is a misdemeanor, subject to punishment of a fine 
of not less than $500, or imprisonment for not less than twelve 
months, or both. 

Uniting persons of different race in bonds of matrimony, by 
a minister, magistrate, etc., is a misdemeanor, subject to the same 
penalty. (Reenacted intermarriage prohibition, which was repealed 
in 1868.) (Code, 1912, Section 3757.) 

Kennington v. Catoe, 68 South Carolina, pp. 470, 475. Colored 
children, born after emancipation, of a free colored woman, who was 
married to a white man before the act of 1879 prohibiting inter- 
marrying of races, can take property under a will as legitimate chil- 
dren. The decision held that before the Statute of 1879 there was no 
law in the state making illegal the marriage of a white man to a 
colored woman. (See also 76 N. C. 242, and 76 N. C. 251, for similar 
statements of the S. C. law.) 

1895 

Constitution, 1893, Article III. Section 33. The marriage of a white 
person with a negro or mulatto, or a person who shall have one- 
eighth or more of negro blood, is unlawful and void. 



178 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Constitution, 1895, Article XL Section 8. Separate schools shall be 
provided for children of the white and the colored race, and no chil- 
dren of either race shall ever be permitted to attend a school pro- 
vided for children of the other race. 

1896 

Laws, 1896, p. 171. Section 58. It shall be unlawful for pupils of 
one race to attend schools provided by boards of trustees for per- 
sons of another race. 

Laws, 1896, p. 174. The establishment is authorized of the Colored 
Normal Industrial and Mechanical College of the South Carolina 
Branch of South Carolina University for the higher education of 
colored youth of state. 

1898 

Laws, 1898, p. 777. Section 1. All railroads shall furnish separate 
apartments in first-class coaches or separate first [class] coaches for 
the accommodation of white and colored passengers. Provided, 
equal accommodations are supplied to all persons, without distinc- 
tion of race, color or previous condition, in such coaches. 

Section 2. Any first-class coach may be divided into apartments, 
separated by a substantial partition, in lieu of separate coaches. 

Section 3. Any railroad or agent violating the provisions of this 
act, is liable to a fine from $300 to $500 for each violation, to be 
collected by suit of any citizen. 

Section 4. This act is not applicable to nurses on trains attend- 
ing children or sick of the other race, nor to narrow guage roads, nor 
to relief trains in case of accident, nor to through vestibule trains, 
nor to officers or guards transporting prisoners, nor to prisoners 
being so transported. 

Section 5. In case a coach for either white or colored passengers 
is full and another cannot be procured at the time, the conductor is 
authorized to set apart so much of the other coach as necessary. 

Section 6. In addition to the first-class coaches provided for in 
this act, a second-class car shall be furnished in which it shall be 
lawful for any and all persons to ride by paying second-class fare 
or having a second-class ticket. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 179 

19OO 

Laws, iqoo, p. 457. An act to amend the act of 1898, p. 777. 

Section I. The title is amended by striking out the words "or 
separate apartments in coaches" and so reading "An act to require 
all railroads and railroad companies operating trains and doing 
business in this state to provide and operate separate coaches for 
the accommodation and transportation of white and colored pas- 
sengers in the state." 

Section 2. Section 1 of the act is amended by striking out "Sepa- 
rate apartments in first-class coaches or separate first coaches" and 
so reading, "Shall furnish separate coaches for the accommoda- 
tion, etc." 

Section 3. Sections 2 and 6 of act repealed. 

Act to read; Section 1 (as shown). 

Section 2. The act is not to apply to nurses on trains attending 
children or sick of the other race, nor to narrow-guage roads, or 
branch lines, nor roads under forty miles in length, nor to relief 
trains in case of accident, nor to through vestibule trains not in- 
tended or used for local travel, nor to regular freight trains with a 
passenger coach attached for local travel, nor to officers nor guards 
transporting prisoners, nor to prisoners or lunatics being so trans- 
ported. 

Section 3. Railroads are not required to have second-class 
coaches or sell second-class tickets. 

Section 4. It is unlawful for employees to permit white and 
colored people to occupy the same car, except as herein allowed. 
Violation of this act is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine from 
$25 to Si 00. 

Section 5. Passengers remaining in another car than that pro- 
vided for them are guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined from 
$25 to $100. Conductors and employees are given the power to 
eject such passengers. 

Laws, iqoo, p. 443. An act establishing a state reformatory for 
criminals under the age of sixteen years. It provides: The white 
convicts shall be kept and employed separately from colored con- 
victs. Part of the state farm in the County of Lexington is to be set 
apart for a reformatory exclusively for colored boys. 



180 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1903 

Laws, 1903, p. 84. An act to amend the Separate Coach statute of 
Laws, 1900, p. 457. The act adds, "Provided, That all railroads 
operated by steam under forty miles in length shall furnish separate 
apartments for white and colored passengers; Provided further, 
that when said railroads under forty miles in length operate both a 
daily passenger train and a freight train, with or without a coach 
attached, said railroad shall be required to furnish separate apart- 
ments for white and colored passengers only on said passenger 
trains." 

1904 

Laws, 1904, p. 438. An act amending further Laws, 1900, p. 457. 
The act adds, "Steam ferries," and "cabins," and so reading, "All rail- 
roads and steam ferries engaged in this state as common carriers of 
passengers for hire, shall furnish separate coaches or cabins," etc. 

1905 

Laws, 1905, p. 954. Electric railways outside the corporate limits 
of cities and towns shall have authority to separate the races in 
their cars, and conductors are authorized and directed to separate 
the races in said cars. 

Conductors and other employees of electric railways while in 
charge of cars are invested with the powers of peace officers and 
authorized to make arrests. 

Conductors failing to separate the races may be fined not more than 
$100, or imprisoned for not more than thirty days for each offense. 

1906 

Laws, 1906, p. 133. An act establishing the South Carolina Indus- 
trial School. After this was established, the reformatory then in 
operation on the State Farm in Lexington County was directed to be 
used exclusively for colored boys. 

Laws, 1906, p. 76. No persons, firms or corporations who or which 
furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating- 
houses, in times limited by common carriers of such passengers, 
shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same 
room, or at the same table, or at the same .counter. Persons violat- 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 181 

ing this act are guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined from $25 
to $100 or imprisoned not more than thirty days. 

I9IO 

Laws, iqio, p. J02. It is unlawful for a parent, guardian, etc., to 
give or surrender any white child permanently into the custody, 
control, maintenance or support of a negro. It is a misdemeanor, 
and the person may be fined or imprisoned in the discretion of the 
presiding judge. This does not apply to prevent the offices of a negro 
in the family of any white person as a nurse. 

191 1 

Laws, iqii, p. 169. All able-bodied male convicts shall hereafter 
be sentenced to hard labor without regard to length of sentence. 
Provided that a separation of races shall be at all times observed, 
except in the penitentiary or on the state farms and in Kershaw 
County. 



South Dakota 
1867-1868 

Laws of Dakota Territory, 1867-1868, p. 255. The word "white" 
was removed from the suffrage qualifications. 

1909 

Laws, iqoq, Chapter 196, p. 297. Intermarriage, or illicit cohabita- 
tion, is forbidden between a person belonging to the African race, 
with any person belonging to the Caucasian race. 

Violation of this act shall be a felony, punishable by a fine not 
exceeding $1 ,000, or by imprisonment not over ten years, or by both. 

Any marriage in violation of the above shall be void from the 
beginning. 

1913 

Laws, 1913, Chapter 266, p. 405. Intermarriage, or illicit cohabita- 
tion, is forbidden between a person belonging to the Caucasian or 
White Race, and a person belonging to the African, Corean, Malay- 
an, or Mongolian race. . 



1 82 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

Violation of this provision shall be a felony, punishable by a fine 
not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment in state prison not over 
ten years, or by both. 

Section 2. No license shall be issued for any such marriage. 
Violation of this provision shall be a misdemeanor. 

Section 3. Such a marriage shall be null and void from the 
beginning. 

Tennessee 
1865-1866 

Laws, 1865-1866, Chapter 40. All free persons of color living to- 
gether as husband and wife in this state, while in a state of slavery, 
are declared hereby to be man and wife, and the children are legiti- 
mate to as full extent as children of white citizens. 

Laws, 1865-1866, Chapter $q. Administrators of free persons of 
color, deceased, leaving children that were slaves, are authorized to 
pay the estate to the children or heirs. Property of free persons of 
color or slaves shall be distributed agreeable to the laws of descent 
and distribution provided for free persons. 

Laws, 1865-1866, p. 65. Separate schools are required for white and 
for negro children. 

I 868-1 869 

Laws, 1868-186Q, Chapter 12. Section 13. No citizen of the state 
shall be excluded from the privileges of the University of Tennesee 
by reason of his race or color; but the accommodation and instruc- 
tion of persons of color shall be separate from those for white 
persons. 

1870 

Constitution, 1870, Article IV. Section 1. Removes the limitation of 
the franchise to white persons. 

Constitution, i8jo, Article XI. Section 14. Intermarriage is pro- 
hibited between white persons and negroes, or descendants of negro 
ancestors to the third generation. The legislature shall enforce 
this by appropriate legislation. 



Stale Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 183 

Laws, 1870, Second Session, Chapter jq. Intermarriage of white per- 
sons with negroes, mulattoes or persons of mixed blood, descended 
from a negro to third generation, inclusive, or their living together 
as man and wife, is prohibited. Such marriage is null and void and a 
felony, punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to 
five years. The court may on recommendation of a jury, substitute 
fine and imprisonment in the county jail. (See Compiled Laws, 
1821, Intermarriage prohibition; also Code, 1884, Sections 3291- 
3292, and Code, 1896, Sections 4186-4187.) 

Laws, 1870, Second Session, Chapter 64. Section 40. The schools for 
white children and for colored children shall be kept separate and 
apart from each other, and the School Commissioners for each 
District shall strictly observe this requirement. 

Constitution, Article XI. Section 12. Separate schools are required 
for white children and negro children. No school established or 
aided under this section shall allow both races to be received in the 
same school. 

1873 

Laws, 1873, p. 46. White and colored persons shall not be taught in 
the same school, but in separate schools under the same general 
regulations as to management, usefulness and efficiency. 

1875 

Laws, 1875, p. 216. The rule of common law giving a right of 
action to any person excluded from any hotel, or public means of 
transportation, or place of amusement, is hereby abrogated; and 
hereafter no keeper of any hotel or carrier of passengers for hire 
shall be bound or under any obligation to entertain, carry, or 
admit any person, whom he shall for any reason whatever choose 
not to entertain, carry or admit, nor shall any right exist in favor 
of any such person so refused, but the right of such keepers of 
hotels, carriers of passengers, and keepers of places of amusement to 
control the access or exclusion of persons shall be as perfect and 
complete as that of any private person over his private house. A 
right of action is given to any keeper of a hotel, common carrier 
and restaurant against any person guilty of turbulent conduct 
within or about the same; such person may be fined not less than 



184 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

$100 and is liable to a forfeiture of $500; and the owner, or the per- 
son so offended, may sue in his own name for such forfeiture. 

I88l 

Laws, 188 1, Chapter 109. Section j. The terms of admission for 
colored students given separate accommodations in schools shall be 
same as the terms prescribed for white students. 

Laws, 1881, p. 139. Suitable but separate accommodations for col- 
ored students required, in the school for the blind at Nashville. An 
appropriation of $2,500 made for this purpose. The terms of admis- 
sion for colored students must be the same as for white students. 
Laws, 1881, p. 210. The State Board of Education was authorized to 
provide for the higher or the normal education of children of African 
descent. 

Laws, 1881, p. 211. Whereas it is the practice of railroad companies 
to charge and collect from colored passengers first-class fare, and 
to compel said passengers to occupy second-class cars where smok- 
ing is allowed and no restrictions enforced to prevent vulgar or 
obscene language; therefore 

All railroad companies shall furnish separate cars, or portions 
of cars cut off by partition walls, which all colored passengers who 
pay first-class rates of fare may have the privilege to enter and 
occupy. 

The separate cars or apartments shall be kept in good repair, 
with the same conveniences, and subject to the same rules governing 
other first-class cars for preventing smoking and obscene language. 

In case of failure to enforce the provisions of this law, the com- 
pany shall pay a forfeit of $100, half to be paid to the person suing, 
the other half to be paid to the common school fund of the state. 

Laws, 1881, First Extra Session, p. 7. Same as Laws, 1881, p. 210, 
with minor changes. 

1882 

Laws, 1882, Third Extra Session, p. 12. All persons paying first-class 
passenger rates are entitled to occupy first-class passenger cars. 
Railroads must furnish them such accommodations, under penalty 
of a fine of $300 payable to the common school fund. The laws of 
1 88 1, p. 211, are amended to be in conformity with this act. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 185 

1884 

Code, 1844. Section 2367. If a company shall fail to enforce this law 
(as preceding), it shall pay $300, one-half to go to the person ag- 
grieved, the other half to go to the common school fund, to be 
recovered at the suit of the person aggrieved, or of the superinten- 
dent of public instruction of the county where the offense is com- 
mitted. 

1885 

Laws, 1885, p. 124. It is unlawful for owners, etc., of any places of 
public resort where a fee is charged for entrance to refuse admission 
to any person on account of the fact that such persons travel over 
a particular route, railway, etc., or in vehicles, carriages, etc., of any 
person or corporation rather than another. Nothing herein shall be 
construed as interfering with existing rights to provide separate ac- 
commodations and seats for colored and white persons at such 
places. 

Laws, 1885, Extra Session, Chapter iq. Authorizing high-graded 
common schools. Nothing herein shall be construed so as to allow 
mixed schools of white and colored population, but such schools 
shall be taught separately as now provided. 

1891 

Laws, i8qi, Chapter 52. Railroads other than street railroads shall 
provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and 
colored races by means of two or more passenger cars or by dividing 
passenger cars by a partition. It shall be permitted to take a 
nurse of another race in the car or compartment set aside for a 
different race. The act shall not apply to mixed and freight trains 
carrying only one passenger or combination passenger and baggage 
car. In such cases the one passenger car shall be partitioned into 
compartments. Conductors are required to assign passengers to 
their proper places. 

Any railroad company refusing to comply with this act is guilty 
of a misdemeanor and may be fined from $100 to $500. Any con- 
ductor not carrying out the provisions of this act may be fined from 
$25 to $50. 



1 86 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1901 

Laws, iqoi, p. 9. It shall be unlawful for any school, college or place 
of learning to allow white and colored persons to attend the same 
school. 

Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any teacher, professor or edu- 
cator to allow the white and colored races to attend the same school, 
or for any teacher or other person to instruct or teach both the 
white and colored races in the same class, school, or college building, 
or in any other place or places of learning, or allow or permit the 
same to be done. 

Section 3. Violation of this act or its provisions may be punished 
by a $50 fine, or imprisonment not less than thirty days or more 
than six months, or both. 

Section 4. Grand juries shall have inquisitorial powers over all 
violations of this act. 

1903 

Laws, 1903, p. 75. Chapter 52 of Acts of 1891 is amended to include 
all street railroads in any county in the state having 150,000 inhabi- 
tants or over, as shown by the Federal census of 1900 or any subse- 
quent Federal census. (Memphis was the only one in 1903.) 

1905 

Acts, 1905, p. 321. All street car lines must set apart or designate in 
each car a portion or certain seats for white passengers and also for 
colored passengers. Appropriate signs of designation must be posted. 
The conductor may change the designation when necessary in his 
judgment. An exception is made of nurses with children or with 
helpless persons of the other race. A refusal on the part of a street 
railroad company to provide separate parts of cars, as required, is 
punishable by a fine of $25 for each offense. Any passenger who 
refuses to take the proper seat is punishable by a fine of $25. Special 
cars may be run for one race exclusively. 



Texas 

1866 

Constitution, 1866, Article VIII. Section 1. Africans and their 
descendants shall be protected in their rights of person and property 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 187 

by appropriate legislation. They shall have the right to contract 
and be contracted with; to sue and be sued, etc. 
Constitution, 1866, Article VIII. Section 2. Africans shall not be 
prohibited on account of race or color from testifying as witnesses 
in any case, civil or criminal, involving injury to or crime against 
them in person or property. 

Constitution, 1866, Article X. Section 7. All the taxi's from Afri- 
cans shall go to maintaining African schools; and it is the duty of 
the legislature to encourage colored schools. (Repealed by omis- 
sion from the next Constitution, in 1876.) 

Laws, 1866, p. 59. Negroes shall not testify except when the prosecu- 
tion is against a negro, or when the alleged offense is against the 
person or property of a negro. 

Laws, 1866, p. 97. Every railroad company shall attach to pas- 
senger trains one car for the special accommodation of freedmen. 
(Repealed in 1871.) 

Laws, 1866, p. iji. All persons heretofore known as slaves or free 
persons of color, shall have the right to make and enforce contracts, 
sue and be sued, inherit, lease, hold, sell, and convey, etc.; and 
there shall be no discrimination in the criminal laws of the state. 
All prior contrary laws are repealed. 

1869 

Constitution, 1869, Article 12. Section 27. (Annotated Statutes, 
1908, Sections 2616 and 2619.) All persons are legally married, 
who lived as husband and wife in slavery, and continued after 
emancipation to live together till the death of one, or till the adop- 
tion of this Constitution. 

Constitution, 1869, Article III. Section 1. Removed the limitation of 
suffrage to white persons. 

1870 

Acts, 1870, p. 12J. Slaves living as man and wife until the death of 
one party, shall be considered married and their issue legitimate. 

1871 

Laws, 18/I, Second Session, p. 16. The equality of all persons before 
the law is recognized and shall ever remain inviolate, nor shall any 



1 88 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

citizen ever be deprived of any right, privilege or immunity, nor be 
exempted from any burdens or duty on account of race, color or 
previous condition of servitude. 

Public carriers are prohibited from making any distinctions in the 
carrying of passengers. Such act is a misdemeanor punishable by a 
fine of from $100 to $500 or imprisonment from thirty to ninety 
days, or both. (Repeals Laws, 1866, p. 97.) 

Laws, 1871, p. 108. There shall be no exclusion of any negro witness 
on account of color. 

1876 

Constitution, 1876, Article 7. Section 7. Separate schools with equal 
accommodation for white and colored children shall be provided. 
Laws, 1876, p. 44. No school receiving white and colored pupils 
shall receive any of the public school fund. 

Laws, 1876, p. 136. An Agricultural and Mechanical College for col- 
ored youths is established under supervision of the Board of Direc- 
tors of Agricultural and Mechanical College in Brazos County. 
Laws, 1876, Chapter CXX, p. 201. An act to establish the Public 
Free Schools. Section 15. A school fund is provided for the edu- 
cation alike of white and colored children. It shall be divided pro 
rata, according to the number of children of each race. 

Section 19. All children from eight to fourteen years of age are 
entitled to the benefit of the free school fund without regard to race 
or color. 

Section 53. A schoolhouse built in part by voluntary subscrip- 
tions by colored people for a colored school, shall not be used with- 
out their consent for white children; and the reverse. 

Section 54. No school partly of white and partly of colored chil- 
dren shall receive aid from the school fund, but the two races shall 
always be taught in separate public free schools. 

1879 

Ex parte Francois, Federal Case No. 5047. Held that the difference 
of punishment in the law of 1858 against intermarriage was uncon- 
stitutional; but that the provision against intermarriage was con- 
stitutional. (See Laws, 1858, p. 164, prohibiting intermarriage and 
imposing different penalties on the white and black parties.) 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 189 

Revised Statutes, 1879, Chapter I, Article 2843. Intermarriage law- 
repeated. Penalty applied equally to both parties. (See Pen. C, 
1915, X, I, Article 365.) 

1884 

Laws, 1884, p. 40. The same as the separate school provision of 
Laws of 1876, adding only a definition of the colored race and col- 
ored children, as being all persons of mixed blood, descended from 
negro ancestry to the third generation inclusive, although one 
ancestor of each generation may have been a white person. 

1889 

Laws, 1889, p. ij2. Railroad companies shall maintain separate 
coaches for the white and the colored races. They shall be equal as to 
comfort. They sheill be designated by words or letters, showing the 
race for whom intended. A compartment separated by a substan- 
tial partition with a door shall be sufficient. One part shall be ex- 
clusively for the colored race. Any passenger insisting on riding in 
an improper car or apartment is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall 
be punished by fine not less than $5 or more than $20. Railroads 
shall have the right to regulate travel on all other coaches except 
the two coaches, or the double coach, set apart for the two races. 
(The legislature suspended the rule requiring three consecutive 
days' reading of the bill, on account of approach of close of session.) 

1891 

Laws, 1891, p. 44. Separate coach law strengthened. Every rail- 
road, lessee, manager or receiver thereof, doing business as common 
carriers for hire, shall provide separate coaches for white and negro 
passengers, which separate coaches shall be equal in all points of 
comfort and convenience. A substantial partition with a door shall 
be sufficient. They shall be designated by the name of the race 
posted in a conspicuous place in each compartment in plain letters. 
The law shall be posted in each coach and depot. Trains may carry 
chair cars or sleeping cars for the exclusive use of either race. 

An exception to the provisions of the law is made for street railway 
cars. Also for nurses with employers, employees of a railroad in dis- 
charge of duties, freight trains carrying passengers in the caboose, 
and excursion trains run for the exclusive benefit of one race. 



190 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

The conductor has authority to enforce the law. His wilful 
failure is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine from $5 to $25. The 
company refusing to provide separate accommodations may be 
fined from $100 to $1,000 for each trip. A passenger refusing to 
occupy the coash assigned may be fined from $5 to $25. (Three 
days' reading suspended, for emergency.) 

Laws, i8qi, p. 163. Same as preceding separate coach law, adding 
only the words "suburban railway cars," to the list of exceptions 
to the act. 

1893 

Laws, 1893, p. 198. (Three white trustees shall have charge of 
white schools.) Three colored trustees shall be elected or appointed, 
upon application of ten colored residents of any district, who shall 
manage the colored schools, under the direction of the white trustees 
of the district. (Separate school law repeated.) 

1895 

Laws, 1895, p. 29. School law of 1893, p. 198 amended. The three 
colored trustees become of full authority over colored schools, and 
are given sole charge. The three white and three colored trustees 
shall divide the school funds. 

1897 

Sayles Civil Statutes, i8gy, Volume I, Article 2959. Intermarriage 
law. Persons of Caucasian blood or their descendants are forbidden 
to intermarry with persons of African blood or their descendants. 
Such marriage shall be void. 

Sayles Civil Statutes, 189J, Article 4510. The term negro includes 
every person of African descent. 

Sayles, 1897, Article 3885-3890. A normal school for colored 
teachers. One student not less than sixteen years old shall be 
admitted from the colored population of each senatorial district and 
three from the state at large. Students are bound to teach three 
years in the colored public schools of the state. They shall receive 
the same compensation as other teachers of public schools. 

1905 

Laws, 1905, p. 263. School Act, Section 96. The colored race and 
colored children are defined as "all persons of mixed blood, from 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 191 

negro ancestry." Section 130. Impartial provision for both races, 
and like education, shall be maintained. 

1907 

Laws, 1907, p. 58. Separate Coach Law. (Includes street-car com- 
panies.) Every railway company, street-car company and inter- 
urban railway company, lessee, manager, or receiver thereof, shall 
provide separate coaches or compartments for the accommodation 
of white and negro passengers, equal in all points of comfort and 
convenience. A good and substantial wooden partition with a door 
therein is sufficient, with words in plain letters indicating the race 
intended for. Each compartment of a street car or interurban car 
shall be divided by a board or marker placed in a conspicuous 
place, bearing appropriate words in plain letters indicating which 
race it is for. 

Any railway company, street-car company or interurban com- 
pany failing to provide separate coaches or compartments shall be 
fined from $100 to $1,000, each trip being a separate offense. A 
passenger wrongfully riding in an improper coach or compartment 
shall be guilty of misdemeanor, and fined from $5 to $25. 

Exception is made of nurses with their employers, employees upon 
a train or cars in discharge of duty, freight trains carrying passengers 
in cabooses, and any excursion train, street car, or interurban car 
as such, for the benefit of either race. Companies may haul sleep- 
ing, dining, cafe, or chair-cars to be used exclusively by either white 
or negro passengers, separately but not jointly. This law shall be 
posted in a conspicuous place in each depot and coach. 
Laws, 1907, p. 103. No white children can be adopted by a negro 
person, nor a negro child by a white person. 

1909 

Laws, 1909, Second Special Session, p. doi. Separate apartments 
shall be provided in all depot buildings for the use of white and of 
negro passengers. 

1913 

Laws, 1913, Special Session, p. 7. Texas Training School for boys 

under seventeen. White boys shall be kept, worked, and educated 
entirely separate from boys of other races, and kept apart in all 
respects. 



192 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1914 

Vernon's Sayles Civil Statutes, IQ14, Article 4553a. Sanitary Code 
for Texas. Rule 64. There shall be separate compartments and 
bedding, separate from white passengers, for negro porters in sleep- 
ing cars. Rule 65. Negro porters shall not sleep in sleeping car 
berths nor use bedding intended for white passengers. 

1915 

Penal Code, 191 5, Title X, Chapter I, Article 346. Penalty for inter- 
marriage is imprisonment in the penitentiary from two to five years. 



Utah 

1888 

Laws, 1888, p. 88. Intermarriage is prohibited. (Original Law): 
Section 1, Marriage is prohibited and declared void, between a negro 
and a white person, and between a Mongolian and a white person. 

1895 

Constitution, 1895, Article III. Section 4. Public schools shall be 

open to all the children of the state. 

1907 

Laws, 1907, p. 32. Marriage laws amended. Intermarriage pro- 
vision the same. 

Vermont 

1858 

Laws, 1858, Chapter 37. Section 5. African descent shall not dis- 
qualify from citizenship of the state. 



Virginia 

1865 

Laws, 1 865-1866, p. 85. Where colored persons prior to February 
27, 1866, agreed to occupy to each other the relation of husband 
and wife and were cohabiting as such at that date whether or not 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 193 

any ceremony had been performed, they shall be deemed husband 
and wife and their children legitimate, and when they ceased to 
cohabit before that date the children of the woman recognized by 
the man as his, shall be deemed legitimate. (1904 Code, p. 1,115, 
Section 2228.) 

Laws, 1865-1866, p. 84. Every person having one-quarter or more 
of negro blood, shall be deemed a colored person, and every person 
not a colored person having one-quarter or more of Indian blood, 
shall be deemed an Indian. 

Laws, 1865-1866, p. 8q. Negroes and Indians may testify when a 
negro or an Indian is a party to the action. 

1867 

Laws, 1866-1867, p. 860. Negroes may testify as if they were white. 
(Repeals Laws, 1 865-1 866, p. 89.) 

Constitution, 1867, Article III. Section 1. Male citizens are given 
the vote, removing limitation to white males. 

I 869-I 870 

Laws, 1869-18 jo, p. 41 j. White and colored persons shall not 
be taught in the same school, but in separate schools, under the 
same general regulations as to management, usefulness and effi- 
ciency. (See Laws, 1 845-1 846, p. 36.) 

I 870-I 87 I 

Laws, 1870-1871, p. 50. All male citizens from twenty-one to 
sixty who are entitled to vote and hold office, etc., shall be liable 
to serve as jurors, etc. (Reverses a law of 1852-1853, p. 43, ex- 
cluding negroes.) 

1871-1872 

Laws, 1871-1872, p. 71. The state board of health shall keep a 
record of the causes of mortality among the colored population. 

1872-1873 

Laws, 1872-1873, p. 243. Gifts for purposes of the education of white 
persons, or likewise of colored persons, are valid. 



194 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1873 

Code, 1873, p. 1,208. Any white person who shall intermarry with 
a negro shall be confined in jail not less than one year, and fined not 
less than $100. Performing such a ceremony is punishable by a 
fine of $200, of which one-half shall go to the informer (no penalty 
on negro). (See Code 1816, p. 401, and Code 1849, p. 471.) 

1877-1878 

Laws, 1877-1878, p. 28. Any person conspiring with another to 
incite the colored population of the state to make insurrection against 
the white population, or to incite the white population against the 
colored population, is liable to imprisonment in the penitentiary from 
five to ten years. 

Laws, 1877-1878, p. 302. If any white person intermarry with a 
colored person, he shall be confined in the penitentiary not less 
than two or more than five years. If any person performs a mar- 
riage ceremony between white and colored persons he shall forfeit 
$200, of which the informer shall have half. Such marriages are 
absolutely void. 

White and colored persons going out of the state to marry, shall 
be punished as if married in the state. (1910 Code, p. 1,119, Sec- 
tion 2253.) 

1882 

Laws, 1881-1882, p. 37. White and colored persons shall not be 
taught in the same school, but in separate schools under the same 
general regulations as to management, usefullness and efficiency. 
The determination as to who is a colored person lies with the board. 

1896 

Acts, 1805-1806, p. 352. Separation in schools, provision repeated. 
(See law of 1882.) 

19OO 

Acts, 1809-1000, p. 301. Regulations for the government of a 

negro reformatory association to conduct reformatories for negro 

youth. 

Acts, 180Q-1000, p. 236. Railroads operating cars by steam on any 

railroad line, and all railroads doing business within this state, upon 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 195 

lines owned in part or in whole, or leased, and all foreign corpora- 
tions who may be now, or may hereafter be, engaged in operating 
any of the railroads of this state, either in part or whole, either in 
their own name or that of others, are required to furnish separate 
cars for the transportation of white and colored passengers. Each 
compartment of a coach divided by a good and substantial parti- 
tion with a door therein, shall be deemed a separate coach. In a 
conspicuous place, there shall be placed appropriate words in plain 
letters, indicating the race for which the compartment is intended. 
No difference or discrimination in quality, convenience or accom- 
modation shall be made. Railroads neglecting to enforce this act 
are guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be fined from $300 to $1,000 
for each offense. 

Conductors, etc., are required to assign to each white or colored 
passenger his or her respective car, coach or compartment, "the con- 
ductors or managers acting in good faith, being for the purposes of 
this act the judge of the race of each passenger, and such passenger 
has refused to disclose his race." Any passenger may be put off a 
train if he refuses to occupy his assigned place. Conductors shall 
not be liable in damages therefor. A conductor failing to carry out 
the provisions of this act is guilty of a misdemeanor, with $25 to $50 
fine for each offense. If the compartment or coach is completely 
filled and the increased number of passengers could not be foreseen, 
where no extra coaches or cars can be had, the conductor is author- 
ized to set apart a portion assigned to passengers of one race to pas- 
sengers of another race. 

The act shall not apply to employees on railroads, or nurses, or an 
officer in charge of prisoners, or lunatics, white, colored, or both, or 
to prisoners or lunatics in his custody, or to transportation of passen- 
gers in a caboose car on freight trains, or to Pullman cars, or to 
through or express trains that do no local business. Circuit courts of 
counties and corporation courts of cities have jurisdiction of offenses 
under these sections. 

Acts, i8qcj-iqoo, p.340. 1 294 f, Section 1. It shall be the duty of the 
captain and other officers of steamboats to assign white and colored 
passengers to their respective locations in separate sections. White 
and colored passengers shall be separate on all steamboats carrying 
passengers within the state, in the sitting, eating, and sleeping apart- 
ments as far as the construction of the boat and due consideration 



196 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

for the comfort of the passengers shall permit. There shall be no 
discrimination as to the quality of accommodations. The act shall 
not apply to nurses or attendants with their employers nor to officers 
in charge of prisoners or lunatics. 

Section 2. Any officer of a steamboat failing to carry out these 
provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine 
of not less than $25 nor over $100. 

Section 3. Any passenger refusing to occupy the accommodations 
set apart for his race shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined not 
less than $5 nor more than $50, or confined in the jail not less than 
thirty days, or both. Such passenger may be ejected at any land- 
ing place. The company shall not be liable in damages therefor. 

1 90 1 

Laws, 1901, Extra Session, p. 329. Same as 1 899-1 900, p. 340, 
leaving out the words, "as far as the construction of his boat and due 
consideration for the comfort of the passengers will permit." 

Laws, 1901, Extra Session, p. 212. Separation is provided for on 
street railway cars between 29th and P Streets in the city of Rich- 
mond and Seven Pines in the County of Henrico. 

1901-1902 

Laws, 1 901-1902, p. 639. Electric cars or trains within Alexandria, 
or from Alexandria to any point in the County of Alexandria, or from 
Alexandria to any point in the County of Fairfax, shall have separate 
coaches or compartments. No discrimination between accommo- 
dations for races is allowed. The conductor may increase or 
diminish the space allotted to either race. 

Passengers failing to occupy the place set apart for their race are 
guilty of misdemeanor, and may be fined from $5 to $25. The con- 
ductor is authorized to eject such a passenger. No fare shall be 
returned in such a case. No damages shall be allowed therefor 
against the company. Conductors and employees are made special 
policemen for the enforcing of the law. 

An exception to the provisions of law is made for employees of the 
company, nurses in attendance upon the other race, and officers in 
charge of prisoners. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 197 

1902 

Constitutional Convention Registration Ordinance, for registration 
of voters prior to year 1904. 

Section 4. Separate books of registration in duplicate, for white 
and colored voters, shall be kept in each precinct. 

Constitution, 1902, Article 9. Section 140. Mixed schools are pro- 
hibited. White and colored children shall not be taught in the same 
school. 

1904 

Laws, 1904, p. 129. Any corporation operating sleeping, dining, 
palace, or compartment cars on the railroads in the state, is em- 
powered to reject and to refuse admittance to any and all persons 
to enter into and ride in such sleeping, dining, palace, parlor, chair, 
or compartment cars, when in the discretion of such corporation, 
its conductors, agents or employees, it may be advisable to do so. 
Code, 1904. Section 1313a. (The State Corporation Commission.) 
Section 16. The commission may require the establishment by 
transportation companies of separate waiting-rooms at all stations, 
wharves, or landings for the white and the colored races. 

Laws, 1904, p. 273. Owners of steamboat wharves shall provide 
separate and non-communicating rooms for the white and the col- 
ored races. This shall not apply to wharves at which boats arrive 
between 7 a. m. and 7 p. m. at which there are public houses open for 
the public and at which public comfort is cared for while waiting. 
Violation of the act is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of from $5 
to $20 for each offense. 

1906 

Laws, 1906, p. 12. Section 1. All companies operating trains or 
cars by electricity are authorized to separate white and colored 
passengers and to designate in each car a portion for white pas- 
sengers and for colored passengers. 

Section 2. No discrimination in quality shall be made. In cold 
weather they shall reasonably heat the several compartments. 

Section 3. The conductor may increase or decrease the amount 
of space or seats set aside for either race, or may require any pas- 



198 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

senger to change his seat when and as often as he may deem nec- 
essary or proper. 

Section 4. Failure to occupy the seats assigned is a misdemeanor 
and may be fined from $5 to $25. Such passenger may be ejected 
and is not entitled to the return of any part of the fare. 

Section 5. Each conductor and motorman upon the cars shall be 
a special policeman for the enforcement of this act. 

Section 6. Companies and employees are not liable in damages 
for any lawful act in enforcement of this law. 

Section 7. Employees, nurses, and officers in charge of prisoners 
or lunatics are excepted from the provisions of the act. 
Laws, 1006, p. 02. Amending 1906, p. 12. Previous Section 1, 
adds that neglecting to comply with the requirement is a misde- 
meanor, with $50 to $250 fine for each offense. 

Section 3. Adds "Provided no contiguous seats or same bench 
shall be occupied by white and colored passengers at same time 
(unless and until all of the other seats in said car shall be occupied)." 
Also adds that any conductor failing to carry out the provisions of 
this section is guilty of a misdemeanor with $5 to $25 fine for each 
offense. 

Section 5. Strengthens the rights of conductors and motormen as 
special policemen and conservators of the peace. "And, acting in 
good faith, he shall be, for the purpose of this act, the judge of the 
race of each passenger, whenever such passenger has failed to dis- 
close his or her race." 

1910 

Laws, iqio, p. 581. Every person having one-sixteenth or more 
negro blood shall be deemed a colored person. Every person not a 
colored person having one-quarter or more Indian blood shall be 
deemed an Indian. 

1912 

Acts, IQ12, p. 330-332, Chapter 757. Whereas, the preservation of 
the public morals, public health and public order, in the cities and 
towns of this commonwealth is endangered by the residence of 
white and colored people in close proximity to one another; therefore 
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That in 
the cities and towns of this commonwealth where this act shall be 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro [99 

adopted in accordance with the provisions of Section 11 hereof, the 
entire area within the respective corporate limits thereof shall, by 
ordinance, adopted by the council of each such city or town, he 
divided into districts, the boundaries whereof shall be plainly desig- 
nated in such ordinance and which shall be known as "Segregation 
districts." 

2. That no such district shall comprise less than the entire 
property fronting on any street or alley, and lying between any 
two adjacent streets or alleys, or between any street and an alley 
next adjacent thereto. 

3. That the council of each such city or town shall provide for, 
and have prepared, within six months after such council shall have 
adopted the provisions of this act, a map showing the boundaries 
of all such segregation districts, and showing the number of white 
persons and colored persons residing within such segregation dis- 
trict, on a date to be designated in such ordinance of adoption, but 
which shall be within sixty days of the passage of such ordinance; 
and such map shall designate as a white district each district where- 
in there are, on the date so designated, more residents of the white 
race than there are residents of the colored race, and shall designate 
as a colored district each district so defined, in which there are on 
the said date as many or more residents of the colored race, as there 
are residents of the white race. 

4. That after twelve months from the passage of the ordinances 
adopting the provisions of this act, it shall be unlawful for any 
colored person, not then residing in a district so defined and desig- 
nated as a white district, or who is not a member of a family then 
therein residing, to move into and occupy as a residence any build- 
ing or portion thereof in such white district, and it shall be unlaw- 
ful, after the expiration of said period of twelve months from the 
passage of the ordinance adopting the provisions of this act, for any 
white person not then residing in a district so defined and designated 
as a colored district, or who is not a member of a family then therein 
residing, to move into and occupy as a residence any building, or 
portion thereof, in such colored district. 

5. That any person occupying any room as a sleeping place in 
any district, whether as a dependent, boarder or lodger, shall be 
classed as a resident of such district, unless it appear that such 



200 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

occupation was merely transitory and that such person had another 
fixed place of abode. 

6. That the said map shall be certified by the clerk of the council 
of such city or town, and shall be at all times kept open to inspec- 
tion by the public in the office of such clerk, and that any person 
considering that such map has not been prepared in accordance 
with the provisions of this act, and who is in any wise prejudiced 
thereby, shall, within sixty days of the completion thereof, or within 
eight months from the adoption of the provisions of this act by such 
city or town, notify the clerk of said council in writing of the par- 
ticulars of the error claimed to have occurred in the preparation of 
such map, and such person may thereafter within thirty days after 
giving such notice move the corporation court of such city, or if 
there be no such court, the circuit court of the county wherein such 
citv or town is situate, or the judge of such court in vacation, to 
correct the error complained of, and the said court or the judge 
thereof in vacation, shall investigate the facts in the premises, and 
order such corrections of such map as may be necessary to make the 
same conform to the provisions of this act. 

7. That the map so prepared and certified and corrected, shall 
be prima facie evidence of the boundaries and racial designation of 
such districts. 

8. That any person who, after the expiration of twelve months 
from the passage of the ordinance of adoption, shall reside in any 
such district, contrary to the provisions of this act, shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined for 
the first week of such prohibited residence not less than $5 nor more 
than $50, and for each succeeding day of such residence the sum of 
$2. 

9. That nothing herein contained shall preclude persons of either 
race employed as servants by persons of the other race from resid- 
ing upon the premises of which such employer is the owner or 
occupier. 

10. That nothing herein contained shall be construed or operate 
to prevent any person who on the date on which this act shall be 
adopted in any city or town, shall have acquired a legal right to 
occupy as a resident any building, or portion thereof in any such 
district, in such city or town, whether by devise, purchase, lease 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 201 

or other contract, and who shall not, on the date which this act 
shall be so adopted have actually moved into such premises, from 
thereafter moving into and occupying the same. 

11. That this act shall apply only to the cities or towns which 
by a recorded vote of a majority of the members elected to the 
council thereof, or if there be two branches of such council by a 
recorded vote of a majority of the members elected to each branch 
thereof, shall adopt the provisions of this act and in all respects 
comply with the requirements hereof. 

1916 

Acts, 1916, p. 60. Amending Acts 1912, p. 330, by adding "provided 
that nothing herein shall be construed to take away from any city 
or town not adopting this act, any power or authority it may have 
to pass ordinances regulating the segregating of the residences of 
v/hite and colored persons, and all such ordinances heretofore passed 
by cities and towns not adopting this act are hereby ratified and 
confirmed, to the same extent as if the said cities and towns had been 
specially thereunto authorized. 

Acts, iqi6, p. 41. An act as to negro minors committed to the Negro 
Reformatory Association, and providing for the same compensation 
to be paid by the state to the association as jailers were entitled to, 
up to the number of 200 negro minors. 



Washington 

1854-1855 

Laws, 185 4-1855, p. 33. Section 1. All marriages heretofore sol- 
emnized in this territory where one of the parties shall be a white 
person and the other possessed of one-quarter or more negro blood, 
or more than one-half Indian blood shall be void. 

Section 2. Any judge or clergyman solemnizing such marriage 
may be fined from $50 to $500, the money to be for the use of the 
common schools. 

Section 3. Nothing shall be construed to prevent parties from 
being united in marriage who may be living together at the time of 
passage of this act. 



202 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

I 865-I 866 

Laws, 1863-1866, p. 81. Section 2, Clause j. Where either of the 
parties is a white person and the other a negro or Indian, or a person 
of half or more negro or Indian blood, any marriage shall be pro- 
hibited. (Approved January 20, 1866.) 

1866 

Laws, 1866, p. qi. No one shall be incompetent as a witness by reason 
of having negro blood. 

1867-1868 

Laws, 1867-1868, p. 47. Be it enacted, That the third clause of 
Section 2 of an act entitled "An act to regulate marriages, approved 
January 20, 1866," be stricken out. 

1889-1890 

Laws, i8Sq-iSqo, p. 524. Civil Rights Act. It includes the enjoy- 
ment of "inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and 
other places of public amusement, and restaurants, subject only to 
conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike 
to all citizens of whatever race, color, or nationality." 

Section 2. Violation of the law is a misdemeanor punishable by 
from $50 to $300 fine, or from thirty days to six months' impris- 
onment. 

1895 

Laws, i8qs, p. IQ2. Civil Rights Act is amended to read as follows: 
"Inns, restaurants, eating-houses, barber shops, public conveyances 
on land and water, theaters, and other places of public accommoda- 
tion and amusement." 

1909 

Laws, iqoq, p. 1027. Section 434. (Civil Rights Law further en- 
acted). Every person who shall deny, because of race, creed, or 
color, the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations or privi- 
leges of any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or 
amusement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 203 

1910 

Code, iqto. Section 2304. Repeal. "Note: In view of the general 
nature of the title of this act (1909, p. 890) a doubt exists as to the 
schedule of acts repealed. Accordingly, in so far as the repealed 
acts seem not in conflict with other provisions of this act, or not 
clearly embraced in the title of this act, they are all retained." (In 
the 1910 Code.) (This includes, among many other sections, Sec- 
tion 2726 to 2762 inclusive, covering Civil Rights, Section 2761- 
2762). 

R. and B.'s Code, 1010. Section 2760. All persons within the State 
of Washington are entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the 
public accommodations and privileges of inns, restaurants, eating- 
houses, barber shops, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, 
or other places of public accommodation and amusement, subject 
only to conditions and limitations established by law and applicable 
alike to all citizens. 

Section 2761. Violation of this act or aiding or inciting such 
denial is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine from $50 to $300, or 
by imprisonment from thirty days to six months. 

1912 

Pierce's Code has only the Civil Rights Act of 1909, p. 1027, 
Section 434 as Tit. 135, Section 867 of Code. 



West Virginia 
i860 

Laws, i860, p. $2Q. All marriages between a white person and a 
negro are void. (Code, Va., i860.) 

1863 

Constitution, 1861-1S6J, Article III. Section 1. The franchise is 

limited to whites. 

1865 

Laws, 1865, p. 50. There shall be separate schools for negroes, 
where there are more than thirty negro children in a school district. 
If the average daily attendance is less than fifteen for a month, the 



204 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

school is to be discontinued for any period not exceeding six months. 
If there are less than thirty children in the school district, or the 
attendance is less than fifteen, the money is to be used for negro 
education as the board thinks best. 

1866 

Laws, 1866, p. 102. All marriages heretofore celebrated between 
colored persons, if in good faith, and both were living together as 
husband and wife on February 28, 1866, shall be deemed valid. All 
persons who were cohabiting together, whether rites had been per- 
formed or not, shall be deemed husband and wife, and all their 
children shall be deemed legitimate. When they have ceased to 
cohabit, all the children of the woman, recognized by the man to 
be his, shall be deemed to be legitimate. 

Laws, 1866, p. 85. No person shall be incompetent as a witness on 
account of race or color. 

1867 

Laws, 1867, p. 44. Slightly modifies the Constitution of Virginia as 

to juries. Limits them to white male persons. 

1870 

Code, 1870, p. 570. Section 1. All white male persons from twenty- 
one to sixty years of age, are liable to service as jurors. 

1872 

Constitution, 1872, Article XII, Section 8. White and colored per- 
sons shall not be taught in the same school. 

Laws, 1 872-1 87 j, Chapter 47. Section 3. Only white persons shall 
serve as jurors. 

Laws, 1 872-1 873, Chapter 161. All laws in force in this State regu- 
lating marriages, or registration of births, deaths, and marriages, 
shall apply to colored persons the same as to white persons, but 
such records shall be kept in separate books. 

Laws, 1872-1873, p. 502. Repeats law of 1866, p. 102, as to colored 
marriages. 

Laws, 1872-1873, p. 391, Chapter 123. Section 17. White and col- 
ored persons shall not be taught in the same school. There shall 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 205 

be a free colored school where there are twenty-five or more col- 
ored children. 

Section 18. When in a district the benefit of a free school is not 
secured to colored children, the fund applicable to the support of 
free schools in such district shall be divided in the proportion which 
the number of colored children bear to the number of white children 
and the share of the former shall be set apart for the education of the 
colored children in each district and be applied for that purpose 
from time to time. 

I88l 

Laws, 1880, Chapter 75. An act providing for normal training for 
colored teachers. 

Acts, 188 1, p. 176. Separate school law repeated. The required 
number must exceed fifteen negro children for a colored school. 

1882 

Acts, 1882, Chapter 123, p. 34Q. Intermarriage. Any white person 
who shall marry a colored person shall be confined in jail not more 
than one year, and fined not exceeding $100. 

Any person who shall knowingly perform the marriage ceremony 
between a white person and a negro shall be guilty of a misdemeanor 
and be fined not exceeding $200. (Code, 1913, Sec. 531 1, 5312.) 

Acts, 1882, p. 186. All male persons shall be liable to service as 
jurors. 

1889 

Laws, i88q-i8qo, p. 8j. If colored troops are organized, they shall 
be enlisted and kept separate from other troops, in separate com- 
panies and regiments. 

Latvs, i88q, p. 75. White and negro inmates of the reform school 
for boys shall be kept separate. 

1897 

Acts, i8qj, Chapter 8. White and colored girls shall be kept separ- 
ate in the industrial home. 

Acts, i8gy, p. 42. Insane asylums shall have separate wards for 
negro and for white patients. 



206 State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 

1901 

Laws, iqoi, p. 15Q. Separate school law repeated. The required 
number of negro children must exceed ten for a colored school. 



Wisconsin 

1848 

Constitution 1S48, Article III, Section 1. Voting is limited to white 
citizens. 

1849 

Laws, 1840, p. 85. An act providing for the submission to popular 
vote of the question of negro suffrage in the State. It provided for 
a separate ballot at the general election to vote on the question of 
negro suffrage. If this should carry, Section 2 should be a law. 

Section 2. Any negro residing one year in the State shall be 
eligible to hold any office. 

In November, 1849, the election on African suffrage was held. 
For suffrage, 5,265 votes were cast, and against it, 4,075. This was 
not a majority equal to a majority of all the votes cast at such elec- 
tion for the offices voted for at the same time. The Board of Can- 
vassers in 1849 declared that a majority of votes had not been cast 
for suffrage. 

1865 

Laws, 186$, p- S J 7- A proposed amendment to the Constitution, 
extending negro suffrage, was passed by the legislature, but rejected 
when submitted to popular vote. 

1866 

Gillespie v. Palmer, 20 Wisconsin, 544 (1866). The Supreme Court 
held that the right to vote had been granted to the negro by the 
Act of 1849 and the subsequent vote of the people at the general 
election of November 6, 1849. The Court held unanimously that the 
law meant a majority of votes cast upon the subject, and that the 
action of the legislature and the people since that time had taken 
place without serious thought and consideration. 



State Legislation Concerning the Free Negro 207 

1895 

Laws, 1895, p. 428, Chapter 223. (Statutes, 1915. Section 4398.) 
Any person who shall deny in whole or in part the accommodations 
of any inns, restaurants, saloons, barber shops, eating houses, pub- 
lic conveyances on land or water, or any other place of public 
accommodation or amusement, except for reasons applicable alike 
to all persons of every race or color, or who shall aid or incite such 
denial, or require any person to pay a larger sum than the regular 
rate charged other persons for such accommodations or privileges, 
is liable to pay to the person aggrieved not less than $5 with costs, 
and shall also be punished by a fine of not more than $100, or con- 
finement in the county jail not exceeding six months, or both; 
judgment for one to bar the other. 



Wyoming 

1887 

Revised Statutes, 1887. Section 3947. When there are fifteen or 
more colored children within any school district, the board of direc- 
tors thereof, with the approval of the county superintendent of 
schools, may provide separate schools for the instruction of such 
colored children. 

1889 

Constitution, 1889, Article I. Section 3. The laws of this State 
affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be 
without distinction of race, color, sex, or any circumstance or con- 
dition whatsoever other than individual incompetency, or unworthi- 
ness duly ascertained by a court or competent jurisdiction. 



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